Russian negotiator reports some progress after Ukraine talks, sees no EU role in process for now

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MOSCOW, Nov 11 - Russia's chief negotiator at Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi said on Wednesday after their conclusion that mutual understanding had been achieved on some issues…

MOSCOW, Nov 11 - Russia's chief negotiator at Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi said on Wednesday after their conclusion that mutual understanding had been achieved on some issues but not on others, and that more negotiations would take place.

Vladimir Medinsky, in remarks broadcast on Russian state television, said that a new potential future European security framework had been a central theme in the two-day talks.

"Together with the American side, we exchanged our views on this; on some points we reached a common understanding, whilst on others we did not. And this discussion will, of course, continue. The world needs a new, modern, updated security system – one that is fair and does not disadvantage any particular countries," Medinsky said.

He was cool however on the prospect of European countries joining future talks, and said it was unclear what there was for Russia and the European Union to discuss, given what he said was a lack of proposals from the European side.

"We have not received a single peace initiative or a single concrete peace proposal from European countries, so it is unclear what there is to discuss. When they come up with some concrete proposals, then we’ll give those proposals some thought. As things stand, I think it would be useful for them to learn, for example, from the American envoys – in terms of common sense, realism and a desire to achieve peace."

Russia and Ukraine had agreed on a large-scale prisoner swap during the talks, Medinsky added, the latest in a long line of such exchanges. He said the details of that would be made public soon. REUTERS

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