Putin speaks of 'constant contact' with Ukrainian intel services: What is being discussed
Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that a meeting took place in Abu Dhabi not only with Americans but also with representatives of Ukrainian intelligence services. The discussion focused on issues related to the exchange of prisoners of war, the Kremlin leader made this statement during a briefing, which was later published by Russian propagandists.
Putin was asked to comment on who is involved in negotiations on the Russian side. The President stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is leading the peace talks, including the well-known Russian "diplomatic genius" Vladimir Medinsky.
The "current state of affairs" is overseen by the figure involved in the "Witkoff tapes" scandal (US President Steve Witkoff’s special envoy) — Putin’s aide, Yuri Ushakov. Putin added that there is supposedly a "large, very large set of issues that need to be discussed, recorded, and properly formulated, with all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed."
At the same time, Putin dismissed information about the Abu Dhabi talks as "information noise." He immediately assured that "nothing secret happened," acknowledging that representatives of both Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services took part in the meetings.
"Our intelligence agencies, Russian and Ukrainian, have always been in contact with each other, even in the most difficult times. And they still are. What are they doing? Resolving a number of humanitarian issues, primarily related to the exchange of prisoners of war. And the Abu Dhabi venue is being actively used for this," he said.
Earlier, the Kremlin also stated that Russia had allegedly not discussed the details of the US peace plan for ending the war in Ukraine with anyone, but confirmed the recent meeting in Abu Dhabi. Ushakov, Putin’s aide, noted that there was a meeting between the new US representative, the Ukrainian delegation, and a Russian representative.
Meanwhile, sources reported that during the visit of the new US representative, General Daniel Driscoll, to Abu Dhabi, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, was expected to meet with the head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Directorate (formerly the GRU), Admiral Kostyukov. However, the topic of their meeting remained unknown.
