US special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev met on Wednesday in Washington and discussed the Ukrainian crisis and the lifting of sanctions before co-operation in the Arctic and the restoration of direct flights.
Bloomberg, citing “a person familiar with the talks,” reports that now “the US is waiting for Dmitriev to report back to Putin before the sides move on to the next steps.” The main topics of conversation were the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine and the restoration of Russian-US relations.
“For the last two days, on instructions from President Putin, I have been holding meetings here in Washington with key members of President Trump’s administration. One of the main topics is the restoration of Russian-US relations, the restoration of the dialogue that was completely interrupted under the Biden administration,” Russian Presidential Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev told reporters.
In addition to meeting with Whitkoff, the Russian negotiator spoke with Republican Senators Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma on Thursday. NBC News reported that the meeting was organised at Trump’s request. The talks discussed the terms of the ceasefire and Putin’s demands related to it.
Negotiations on Ukraine: What was achieved
Following the meetings, Dmitriev said in an interview with Fox News that the Trump administration had prevented the start of World War III.
“We are having productive discussions. Our diplomats are also working out possible options for the development of events. But there is no doubt that President Trump’s team has not only prevented World War III, but has already made significant progress in resolving the Ukrainian issue,” he stressed.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund head recalled the resumption of the grain deal and the agreements on non-impact on energy infrastructure between Russia and Ukraine.
“I think there is an understanding of how we can move towards finalising the agreement. And there have been many discussions in this area, there are still many disagreements, but I think there are several approaches to try to resolve all these issues,” Dmitriev said.
He said Moscow insists on finding a long-term solution – “this is what is needed because we are also thinking about global security and how to ensure that Russia’s interests in this sphere are taken into account.”
Some security guarantees for Ukraine “may be acceptable” to the Kremlin, but joining NATO is “absolutely impossible,” Putin’s special envoy told FOX News, without specifying what guarantees might be in question.
“I believe that Ukraine’s accession to NATO, as our president said, is not possible at all, and this, I think, is widely accepted, including by the Trump administration,” he said.
At the same time, Dmitriev said, “Trump wants Ukraine to be strong,” while the US “sees its task as ensuring a strong position for Kyiv, which has been consistently communicated throughout the discussions.”
The presidential special envoy said Russia “has a kind of global security concern.” Dmitriev also responded to a question about a possible armed conflict between Russia and the EU.
“There are a lot of false and fake stories circulating, for example, about a possible Russian offensive against Europe. I want to say that this is just a crazy idea,” he said.
Russia about sanctions
Dmitriev told CNN in an interview that he did not ask for relief from Western sanctions during talks in Washington. The Russian economy is fine, he said, and Moscow is not putting any preconditions on the issue right now.
“Many Russians believe that sanctions are good for turning away from dependence on the West,” he said.
He noted, however, that Russia and the US “have a huge opportunity to have dialogue and business together.” According to him, US companies have lost about $300bn in lost profits due to leaving Russia.
“I believe that sanctions can be lifted when American companies want to come back, want to take advantage of business opportunities in Russia,” he said.
Prospects for Russia-US relations
Russia and the US “have taken three steps forward in the last two days,” the president’s special envoy said. Dmitriev also added:
“We made three steps forward today and yesterday on a large number of issues. But, of course, they have accumulated, firstly- there are a lot of them, and secondly – in fact, there has been no communication between Russia and the United States for three years. So the process of dialogue, the process of resolution, it will take some time.”
According to Dmitriev, Russia proceeds from the premise that it is necessary to “speak the same language with the Americans, to understand their concerns, to understand what they care about,” with Moscow prioritising its own interests.
Dmitriev added that “significant progress” has already been made between the parties, but “a number of more meetings will be needed” to eliminate existing differences. He expressed gratitude to the US side for the invitation to Washington and invited US representatives to Moscow.
In addition to sanctions and the settlement in Ukraine, Dmitriev discussed with the US side Russia-US interaction in the Arctic, rare earth metals mining and co-operation “in various other sectors.”
He also said that Moscow and Washington are discussing the restoration of direct flights, and US companies are ready to take over the niches left by European companies that left Russia. The terms of new negotiations between Russia and the US will be determined in the near future, the official said.
Moscow prefers to continue certain mutual efforts with Washington on a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, achieving this takes time and effort, the Kremlin official said. He also claimed:
“Both sides would prefer not to fight, but to talk, and not only to talk, but also to be heard.”
Kyiv nervous, Russian ambassador says
Kyiv is reacting nervously to the continuation of the dialogue between Russia and the US, more than a hundred UAVs sent to bomb civilian objects are more indicative than Volodymyr Zelensky’s words about the desire for peace, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said.
Miroshnik believes that the night attacks on Russian regions by Ukrainian UAVs are Ukraine’s response to the talks in Washington. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, air defence systems have destroyed 107 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory since Thursday evening.
Putin and Zelensky ready for an agreement on Ukraine, Trumps says
European leaders have not succeeded in engaging with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, US President Donald Trump has said, expressing confidence that he will succeed unlike them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “wants to make a deal” on a settlement, Trump said confidently. “And I believe that President Putin is willing to make a deal,” he told reporters aboard his plane en route from Washington to Miami. The Republican believes there is progress in the settlement discussions.
At the same time, Trump did not comment on the trip to Washington and US-Russia talks.
Earlier this week, the White House said Trump was unhappy with comments about the conflict between both Putin and Zelensky. In an interview with NBC, the Republican said he was “very angry” and “furious” at Putin’s idea to discuss imposing a UN-brokered interim administration in Ukraine to hold elections there. He threatened secondary tariffs on all oil from Russia if a ceasefire could not be brokered through Moscow’s fault.
The Kremlin said in response that Russia was continuing to work on normalising bilateral relations with the US and resolving the conflict with Ukraine, “it is a process, still stretched in time, connected, probably, with the complexity of the substance.”
Trump said Zelensky was backing out of the mining deal and threatened the Ukrainian president with “very big problems.” The US handed Ukraine a new version of the project last week, while the previous one was supposed to be approved by the parties at the end of February, when Zelensky visited Washington. The meeting ended unsuccessfully and the Ukrainian president left the White House early, and Trump accused him of not being ready for peace.
