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Moscow keeps maximal demands at Abu Dhabi talks, correspondent says

Silke Diettrich describes a Russian negotiating position focused on NATO and territorial concessions, despite positive signals from Ukrainian and American officials.

Channel: tagesschau ·

GermanyStory of November 12, 2026Trari Newsroom

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Ukraine-Verhandlungen in Abu Dhabi: So geht Russland vor

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0:00Diettrich says Russian media emphasize that the Abu Dhabi talks are being conducted in Russian.
0:23Moscow's priorities extend to NATO relations and Europe's security order, according to Diettrich.
0:57Diettrich sees no retreat from Moscow's maximal demands, including territorial concessions and opposition to a ceasefire.
2:25She connects the security-guarantee question to Russia's 2021 demands for NATO to return to its 1997 position.
3:42State media rarely show Ukrainian energy strikes, Diettrich says; fuel shortages were worse during the summer.
4:45Diettrich sees little scope for Putin to compromise while Russian propagandists demand unconditional victory.

Optimistic accounts of the Abu Dhabi talks have not been matched by a visible shift in Moscow's demands, according to Silke Diettrich, reporting from the Russian capital for Germany's ARD news service, tagesschau.

The report's description says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was satisfied with the previous day's discussions and saw changes in the attitude of American mediators. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also described the negotiations as very productive. Diettrich's assessment is more guarded: she sees Moscow maintaining its maximal demands, rejecting a ceasefire and insisting on territorial concessions.

The interview, titled "Ukraine-Verhandlungen in Abu Dhabi: So geht Russland vor" ("Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi: How Russia is proceeding"), examines what Russia wants beyond an agreement with Ukraine. Diettrich says Moscow is putting its relationship with NATO and the wider European security order at the center of the negotiations. Even the language of the meetings becomes part of the presentation: Russian media, she reports, have emphasized that the talks are taking place in Russian.

Asked how security guarantees for Ukraine could work from Moscow's perspective, Diettrich points back to Russian demands made in 2021 for NATO to retreat to its 1997 position. NATO is a collective-defense alliance, so that demand reaches beyond Ukraine to the security arrangements of other European countries.

The discussion also considers Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, including the port of Ust-Luga. Diettrich says state media show little of those attacks and that fuel shortages were more severe during the summer than at the time of her report.

Could President Vladimir Putin accept a face-saving exit? Diettrich describes little room for compromise, saying Russian propagandists continue to demand an unconditional victory on Moscow's terms. Separately, the broadcaster's later evening bulletin reported an agreement on a prisoner exchange at the Abu Dhabi talks, a concrete outcome distinct from agreement on ending the war.

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