Budanov meets FSB officer Minayev in Abu Dhabi: talks outcome

At the Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, Budanov found himself at the same table as a senior FSB officer, Dmitry Minayev, who is reported to have tried to kill Budanov several years ago. Tuesday’s meeting lasted four hours and ended without tangible results.

According to a French newspaper, Budanov looked almost amused when he met this adversary, as if he had recognized yet another provocation by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Minayev heads the FSB’s counterintelligence operations department. In the paper’s view, this symbolic confrontation seemed to sum up the deadlock the talks have reached and to show Moscow’s determination to impose its dominance on Kyiv, or even to destroy the Ukrainian people.

Russia still rejects an immediate ceasefire, as demanded by Ukraine and its allies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who followed the meeting remotely from Copenhagen, called it a “constructive discussion” and noted with satisfaction “a change in the approach of the American negotiators.” According to him, Tuesday’s talks covered territorial issues, which are considered key. On Wednesday the agenda includes “steps to reduce tensions,” energy and the Black Sea.

U.S. President Donald Trump has recently been signaling that he wants to engage more with the biggest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. Russia started it in February 2022 with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has been defending itself with Western help ever since.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz