The Kremlin accused Europe on Friday of struggling to decide who would represent it in any future talks about ensuring the continent's security as part of a potential Ukraine settlement, Reuters reported from Moscow on November 6. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Europe would need to be involved in such talks, but said it had so far struggled to get its act together.

Source: Reuters via SRN News

Asked on Friday about what role Europe could play in any potential talks in future, Peskov told reporters on a conference call: 'As for any ideas from the Europeans, we have not received any. We are not aware of any.' He added: 'One way or another, the discussion will turn to the future security system in Europe when there will be talks about mutual security guarantees between Russia and Ukraine, and it will of course be impossible to do this without the Europeans at some stage.'

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

'Therefore, a discussion with the Europeans will be required. But, as we can see, they have not even yet been able to decide who can speak on their behalf. So on that side, what we are seeing is prolonged indecision and an unwillingness,' Peskov said.

After Brussels, before Abu Dhabi

Peskov's remarks followed a meeting in Brussels at which the United States, Ukraine, NATO and European partners discussed security guarantees for Ukraine and a broader European security architecture, Reuters reported, and came a day after US President Donald Trump spoke on Thursday about a 'big agreement' that 'might involve all of Europe'. The next formal step is the US-mediated round in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, announced by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, with the Russian delegation to be led by former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky; the talks are to focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts and next steps toward peace, Al Jazeera reported.

Read the Abu Dhabi talks announcement here: US to mediate Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11

Kyiv and Europe say Europe must be at the table

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hopes the Abu Dhabi talks will lead to a three-way meeting of leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking in Berlin on Tuesday alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Al Jazeera reported. European governments have insisted on being involved in the negotiations but are unlikely to be at the table in Abu Dhabi; instead, US envoys are due to meet representatives from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, NATO and the European Union in Brussels this week to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe's post-war security architecture. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine needs an additional 70 billion euros ($77.5 billion) from European countries next year.

Source: Al Jazeera

What happens next

No European government had publicly answered Peskov's Friday charge in the reports available, and Moscow said it had received no European proposals. The Abu Dhabi round on November 10-11 will show whether the trilateral US-Russia-Ukraine format stays closed to Europe, as the Kremlin has previously insisted, or whether the parallel Brussels track on guarantees becomes the channel through which a European voice enters any settlement discussion.