The UK’s national security adviser has apparently turned up uninvited at negotiations in Geneva
British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell has been spotted at the scene of crucial peace talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the US in Geneva. The UK has scuppered a peace deal before, and is not due to take part in the latest negotiations.
Video footage captured by Ruptly shows Powell in the lobby of the InterContinental Hotel on Tuesday morning, hours before delegations from Moscow, Kiev, and Washington sat down in the trilateral format.
Powell’s presence in Geneva was not announced by the British government, nor have any British officials been invited to take part in the talks.
In a report on separate US-Iran discussions in Geneva, the Telegraph mentioned that Powell had had breakfast with US envoy Steve Witkoff and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, without revealing any further details.
Hours later, minutes after the Russian side had officially confirmed that the talks were over, Powell was again seen in the hotel lobby.
While the purpose of Powell’s trip to Geneva is not entirely clear, the British government has sabotaged peace talks between Moscow and Kiev before. Russia and Ukraine agreed to a settlement in 2022 after negotiations in Istanbul, but Zelensky pulled out of the agreement after then Prime Minister Boris Johnson convinced him to keep fighting. Johnson’s role in sabotaging the agreement has been confirmed by Ukrainian negotiators David Arakhamia and Aleksey Arestovich, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, and anonymous sources in British and Ukrainian media.
Former Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and former US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland have all admitted that the West sank the deal, without explicitly naming Johnson.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the UK, along with Germany, France, and the Baltic states, of working to “undermine” the latest attempts at diplomacy between Moscow and Washington.
The latest trilateral negotiations follow two similar rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, which focused on security and military issues. Tuesday’s discussion will cover “a broader range of issues, including the main questions concerning territories,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
All parties have highlighted territorial disputes – Ukraine’s refusal to cede territory in the Donbass to Russia – as the main obstacle to a deal. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has outright refused to make any territorial concessions, claiming at last weekend’s Munich Security Conference that doing so would only bring about the “illusion” of peace.
US President Donald Trump has pushed Zelensky to soften his stance. “Russia wants to make a deal,” he told reporters at the White House on Friday. “Zelensky needs to act. Otherwise he will miss a great opportunity.”
Ukraine’s delegation at Geneva remains unchanged since the last round of talks in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, while Russia has reintroduced presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky as the leader of its delegation, and Trump has sent Witkoff and Jared Kushner, both of whom skipped the last round.
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Russia-US-Ukraine peace talks: Who is facing off in Geneva?
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has opposed every iteration of a Ukraine peace deal leaked via the media to date, and in a speech in Munich on Sunday, declared “we’re not dealing with two equal parties, there’s an aggressor which is Russia and there is Ukraine which has been subject to attack.” Starmer then argued that NATO should be “ready to fight” a war with Russia by the end of the decade.
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