KIROV, January 23. /TASS/. A Senior Russian lawmaker says he hopes the ongoing meeting of the trilateral working group on security issue involving Russia, the United States, and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi will yield constructive results.
Earlier in the day, Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced the beginning of negotiations involving the delegations of Russia, the United States, and Ukraine in the UAE capital city of Abu Dhabi. The talks are expected to last for two days. According to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, the Russian delegations is led by Igor Kostyukov, chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian army. Ukraine's negotiating team is led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov.
"I’d rather not speculate on the outcome, but I hope it will be constructive. To what extent? Let us wait and see," Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), told TASS.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with visiting US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and entrepreneur Jared Kushner. The nearly four-hour meeting focused on issues of the Ukrainian settlement. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said after the meeting that it was a very meaningful, constructive, sincere, and trust-based conversation. Moscow and Washington agreed that the trilateral Russian-US-Ukrainian working group on security issues will have its first meeting in Abu Dhabi on January 23.
"Another meeting between the Russian president and [US President Donald] Trump’s envoys - Witkoff and Kushner - finished late at night. Our president’s team is doing a great job, in particular presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Many thanks," Slutsky added.