MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. The possibility of European participation in the Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, as well as US envoy Jared Kushner’s idea of using the Russia-NATO Council as a basis for discussing the European security architecture, were the main topics of Monday’s briefing by Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.
TASS has summarized the Kremlin spokesman’s key statements.
On Ukraine settlement process
Ukraine is a geographically different country today, as the realities on the ground are obvious: "As for the shape of Ukraine, from a geographical point of view, it is already a different country. The realities on the ground are obvious, and hardly anyone can deny it."
The upcoming talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi will be trilateral, involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine: "The coming days will see trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi between Russia and Ukraine, with the United States acting as mediator. As for the Europeans' presence, you know that the Americans have their own channels of communication with them, as do the Ukrainians. They are apparently already putting their own coordination mechanism in place. But let me repeat: the negotiations in Abu Dhabi will be trilateral."
On a possible meeting between Putin, Trump and Xi Jinping
Moscow, Beijing and Washington are currently exchanging views on the agenda for a possible meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump: "The parties are exchanging proposals on the possible agenda for the meeting and sharing their views on the matter. A wide range of issues could be discussed."
The upcoming meeting is expected to be interesting and attract significant attention: "The meeting will certainly be interesting, indeed. And of course, it will attract the attention of everyone around the world."
On European security architecture
The Kremlin has no comment on US envoy Jared Kushner’s idea of using the Russia-NATO Council as a basis for discussing the European security architecture: "We will not discuss any models in public."
On Coca-Cola assets
The Kremlin has no information regarding an alleged request from the owner of the Altai-based company Bochkari, Vadim Smagin, to be granted temporary management of the Russian assets of the American firm Coca-Cola: "I am not aware of whether such a request took place. Even if it did, we never comment on internal, official, working correspondence."
On Russian media
It is wrong to say that the era of independent Russian media is over; outlets are developing amid fierce competition: "As you know, the Russian media is multifaceted, multimedia-based, and developing rapidly. It operates and evolves in an environment of fairly fierce competition. Of course, year after year, some media outlets cease to exist, and new ones take their place. This is a normal cycle."