Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assembly with Steve Witkoff lasted 4 hours
Steve Witkoff’s go to to Russia is aimed toward facilitating direct US communications with the Kremlin as a part of a broader effort to barter a ceasefire and eventual peace settlement within the Ukraine battle, White Home spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mentioned on Friday.
Witkoff, a confidant of US President Donald Trump, has been tapped as his particular envoy within the effort to fix ties with Russia. Right this moment’s assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg is Witkoff’s third since February, when he efficiently negotiated a prisoner trade which Washington and Moscow described as a trust-building gesture. He was additionally a part of a high-level US delegation that met Russian officers in Saudi Arabia final month for discussions on the Ukraine battle.
”I can affirm that Mr. Witkoff is in Russia to have direct communications with the Kremlin and with Vladimir Putin,” Leavitt informed reporters at a press briefing.
”That is one other step within the negotiating course of in the direction of a ceasefire and an final peace deal in Russia and Ukraine,” she mentioned, declining to supply additional particulars. “As these negotiations are ongoing, I clearly won’t get forward of the president or his staff. However I feel the president has been fairly clear that he’s been regularly annoyed with either side of this battle, and he needs to see this preventing finish.”
Talking with journalists earlier than Friday’s assembly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the period of the talks could be versatile and will take “an hour, or two, three or 4; so long as President Putin requires.”
Final week, Witkoff met with Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev in Washington. The pinnacle of the Russian Direct Funding Fund advises Putin on worldwide financial cooperation and was noticed within the morning strolling out of a resort in St. Petersburg alongside Trump’s envoy.
Peskov warned in opposition to anticipating vital progress from the assembly however talked about subjects that might be mentioned, such because the normalization of bilateral relations, a possible in-person assembly between the 2 presidents, and the battle in Ukraine.
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