For the first time, separate negotiations with Iran and with Russia and Ukraine will take place in the same city and on the same day
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff Photo: Szwarc Henri/ABACA / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
Two rounds of diplomatic negotiations regarding Ukraine and Iran will take place in Geneva on Tuesday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
An American delegation, including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will meet with Iranian representatives on Tuesday morning, the source said.
Representatives from Oman will be present there and mediate contacts between the US and Iran, the source added to the international news agency.
Witkoff and Kushner will then participate in trilateral talks with representatives from Russia and Ukraine in the afternoon, the source said.
The talks come as US President Donald Trump is putting pressure on the Iranian government following a violent crackdown on protesters and has mobilized a significant US naval presence in the region.
Trump announces that a second US aircraft carrier will leave for the Gulf “very soon” and warns Iran
The Russian delegation, again led by Medinski
The new round of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine was confirmed on Friday. The Russian delegation will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin adviser who has been criticized by Ukrainians after previous negotiating sessions.
The new round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations will take place on February 17-18, in Geneva, Switzerland, the Russian state agency Interfax announced. The Ukrainian presidential administration confirmed the schedule and location to Politico and said it has begun preparations.
Medinski has led the Russian delegation since last year's negotiations in Istanbul, but has been replaced for the last two direct Ukraine-Russia-US rounds held in the United Arab Emirates.
In its account of Medinski's return to head the Russian delegation, the Ukrainian publication Kyiv Independent describes him as “a pseudo-historian” with a hard line.
In an interview given at the end of January to HotNews, Mihailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Zelenski, said that the atmosphere during the negotiations is different since Russia replaced Medinski as the head of the delegation. “The Russian delegation led by Kostyukov (no – the one present at the Abu Dhabi negotiations) looks different from the delegations that Russia previously sent to meetings with ours. It is ready to listen, formulate arguments and accept arguments. There is no longer that arrogance specific to the Medinski group, which talked about destroying everything,” said Podoliak.
