The key facts
- Talks between Russia, the US and Ukraine began in Abu Dhabi on November 10
- According to Yevgeny Popov, Witkoff, Kushner and Grynkewich have Belarusian roots
- Moscow backed Washington's proposal to start with collective security issues
Abu Dhabi talks and the background of the American delegation
Talks between Russia, the US and Ukraine began in Abu Dhabi on November 10. Moscow backed Washington's proposal to start the discussion with collective security issues. According to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the parties are to agree on the principles of future guarantees for Russia, Ukraine and the region as a whole; they are to take effect after a comprehensive agreement on settling the conflict is reached.
Belarusian roots of the participants
Vesti correspondent Yevgeny Popov said that three US representatives taking part in the talks have Belarusian roots. The grandmother of US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff, named Rose, was born in Grodno and emigrated to the United States in 1905. The grandmother of the American leader's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Rae, fled the Novogrudok ghetto during World War II, joined a partisan unit, and after the war moved to the US. The commander of NATO's joint forces in Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, also has Belarusian roots: his great-grandfather Ilya left Minsk and moved to New York in 1899. 'Such coincidences are hardly ever seen in diplomacy,' Popov noted, commenting on the background of the American participants in the talks.
Context
The information about the delegation members' origins is reported only by Life.ru, citing Popov; no independent confirmation of these data is available from other sources. Apart from Lavrov's position on the principles of future guarantees, the publication gives no further details about the substance of the talks themselves.
