Who is the spook leading Russia's negotiations with Ukraine? |
At the trilateral talks being held in Abu Dhabi, both Kyiv and Moscow are being led by military intelligence officers. These are the newly appointed presidential chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, formerly the head of HUR – Ukrainian military intelligence, and Admiral Igor Kostyukov, head of Russia’s GU – the Main Directorate of the General Staff.
On one level, this should not be a surprise. Quiet negotiations between HUR and GU (still widely known by its old acronym, GRU) have been behind a number of practical agreements throughout the conflict, such as the swaps of prisoners and the bodies of the fallen. Just as in the past Mossad was behind covert negotiations with Arab states before there were diplomatic relations, and the CIA maintained back-channel contacts with North Korea’s reconnaissance general bureau, spooks can still sometimes be useful diplomats.
Budanov, an outspoken champion of Ukraine’s cause, already has a larger-than-life profile, not least as many western journalists lapped up his macho legend and the exciting minutiae of his previous existence. This ranged from the (necessary) cloak-and-dagger security precautions for making it into his bunker to the captured trophy of a latest-model Russian AK-12 rifle propped nonchalantly in the corner of his office.
Kostyukov was sanctioned by the UK after the attempt to poison Sergei Skripal in 2018
For all that, Budanov is also emerging as a relatively pragmatic voice on Ukraine’s........