The Kremlin says Witkoff ‘will deliver one thing from his president to Putin’ to push for a Ukrainian peace settlement.
United States President Donald Trump’s particular envoy, Steve Witkoff, has arrived in Russia and is scheduled to satisfy President Vladimir Putin to debate the struggle in Ukraine, based on the Kremlin spokesperson.
The Kremlin’s Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Friday that Witkoff and Putin have been in Saint Petersburg.
“The painstaking work continues. Naturally, Witkoff, as a particular consultant of President Trump, will deliver one thing from his president to Putin. Putin will take heed to it. The dialog on numerous elements of the Ukrainian settlement will proceed,” he was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS information company.
Earlier on Friday, Russian state media printed footage of Witkoff and Russia’s financial negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, leaving a resort in St Petersburg.
Ceasefire talks stall
Talks over securing a ceasefire deal to finish the Ukraine struggle have stalled amid negotiations on the situations to finish the struggle.
On the finish of March, Trump mentioned he was “very indignant” and “p****d off” after Putin criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s management.
Trump advised NBC Information: “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I feel it was Russia’s fault – which it may not be – but when I feel it was Russia’s fault, I’m going to place secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil popping out of Russia.”
Final month, Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an entire and unconditional ceasefire.
Whereas Russia and Ukraine agreed to halt assaults on power infrastructure in March, either side have accused one another of constant assaults.
Mending ties
Witkoff has rapidly develop into a key determine in discussions between Washington and Moscow as the 2 sides eased the frosty tensions throughout former President Joe Biden’s administration.
After his final assembly with Putin, Witkoff mentioned the Russian chief was a “nice chief” and “not a foul man”.
Extra lately, on Thursday, US and Russian officers held talks in Turkiye, which they each mentioned had made progress in direction of normalising the work of their diplomatic missions.
On the identical day, Russia freed Russian American Ksenia Karelina from jail in change for the suspected tech smuggler Arthur Petrov.
Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned that prisoner exchanges helped construct “belief, which is way wanted” between the 2 sides after ties deteriorated below Biden.
