All but drowned out by the hubbub over Donald Trump’s tariffs, Vladimir Putin is this week making his own business pitch to the White House.
The Kremlin’s smoothest money-man is in Washington for top-level talks aimed at launching a new era of business cooperation between the US and Russia.
Envoy Kirill Dmitriev’s task is to talk up a raft of supposedly huge mineral deals in the Arctic. And while he’s about it, he is also to reset relations between the two countries which are, he says, “exactly what the world needs for lasting global security and peace.”
Russia was notable by its absence from Trump’s tariffs – an unmistakable sign of favour. Nonetheless, The Kremlin has clearly been rattled by Trump’s talk last week of being “pissed off” and “very angry” at Russia’s foot-dragging over ceasefire negotiations.
For all their shortcomings – not least on operational security – Trump’s national security team are not complete fools. Putin’s promises of various conditional ceasefires have proved worthless.
His demand last week that Ukraine’s government be replaced with a transitional one as the price for peace negotiations was pure overreach.
Even sealed in his internet-free propaganda bubble, Putin can see that nothing good will come of a “very angry” Trump. This is why he is pursuing a fresh tack.
The Kremlin’s new plan is to try to talk to Trump in the kind of transactional language that they think he understands – Putin’s very own version of the Art of the Deal.
Coming soon after Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent refusal to have any truck with a re-written US-Ukraine minerals deal, Putin’s message to Trump is clear: Zelensky won’t play ball and doesn’t want you to be your friend and business partner, but Russia does.
Dmitriev is a perfect choice to smooth-talk the Trump White House. Born in Kyiv, he was sent to school in California aged 14, educated later at Stanford and Harvard Business School, and had a stellar career at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, before returning to Moscow to work for the Kremlin.
Formally, his day job is as head of Russia’s multibillion sovereign wealth fund. But more importantly, since 2016, he has been Putin’s go-to back-channel contact with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia – as well as key Trump allies like financier Erik Prince.
Dmitriev also won brownie points with the US by speaking out in favour of Michael Calvey, a top US banker jailed for alleged fraud in 2019.
Lately, Dmitriev has been at the table in Riyadh and Jeddah as part of Putin’s negotiating team with US counterparts to thrash out a ceasefire deal.
But unlike the slab-faced Soviet-era dinosaurs who surround him, Dmitriev has been the only Russian official putting out a consistently cheery and upbeat message.
The Kremlin reckons that he can push all the right buttons Stateside. Dmitriev already got off to a good start last week by suggesting that Russia could provide a miniaturised nuclear reactor to power Elon Musk’s notional Space X colony on Mars.
Putin’s pitch to the White House is perfectly crafted for Trump’s greedy ears. The Arctic, Dmitriev wrote on X, is a chance to “tap a $1T+ opportunity” – that’s one trillion dollars to non-finance bros – including “13% of untapped oil & 30% of gas 260 million tons per annum shipping via Northern Sea Route by 2035 and a 30–40% faster Europe–Asia trade path vs. Suez.”
According to Dmitriev, “the next frontier is here” in the frozen north, “the gateway to Earth’s crown jewel.”
Arctic security, minerals and shipping have clearly been on the White House’s mind, as attested by JD Vance’s recent Greenland adventures.
And the Dmitriev roadshow is offering just the kind of shiny baubles that sound good in speeches but are conveniently unverifiable short term.
Meanwhile. the Ukraine minerals deal is losing its lustre, not only because of Zelensky’s resistance but also because experts have debunked most of the magic numbers being bandied about the value and extraction costs of the country’s titanium, lithium, graphite and uranium.
It remains to be seen whether Trump will take the Kremlin’s bait. Dmitriev claims that resistance to US–Russia dialogue is “driven by entrenched interests and old narratives”.
And Washington’s bottom line remains that a Ukraine ceasefire needs to be done soon. But Putin’s big mission is to try to convert the US from Russia’s adversary into a partner.
If he succeeds, not only the endgame of the Ukraine war, but the entire strategic alignment of the Western world will be shaken to its foundations.
All but drowned out by the hubbub over Donald Trump’s tariffs, Vladimir Putin is this week making his own business pitch to the White House.
The Kremlin’s smoothest money-man is in Washington for top-level talks aimed at launching a new era of business cooperation between the US and Russia.
Envoy Kirill Dmitriev’s task is to talk up a raft of supposedly huge mineral deals in the Arctic. And while he’s about it, he is also to reset relations between the two countries which are, he says, “exactly what the world needs for lasting global security and peace.”
Russia was notable by its absence from Trump’s tariffs – an unmistakable sign of favour. Nonetheless, The Kremlin has clearly been rattled by Trump’s talk last week of being “pissed off” and “very angry” at Russia’s foot-dragging over ceasefire negotiations.
For all their shortcomings – not least on operational security – Trump’s national security team are not complete fools. Putin’s promises of various conditional ceasefires have proved worthless.
His demand last week that Ukraine’s government be replaced with a transitional one as the price for peace negotiations was pure overreach.
Even sealed in his internet-free propaganda bubble, Putin can see that nothing good will come of a “very angry” Trump. This is why he is pursuing a fresh tack.
The Kremlin’s new plan is to try to talk to Trump in the kind of transactional language that they think he understands – Putin’s very own version of the Art of the Deal.
Coming soon after Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent refusal to have any truck with a re-written US-Ukraine minerals deal, Putin’s message to Trump is clear: Zelensky won’t play ball and doesn’t want you to be your friend and business partner, but Russia does.
Dmitriev is a perfect choice to smooth-talk the Trump White House. Born in Kyiv, he was sent to school in California aged 14, educated later at Stanford and Harvard Business School, and had a stellar career at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, before returning to Moscow to work for the Kremlin.
Formally, his day job is as head of Russia’s multibillion sovereign wealth fund. But more importantly, since 2016, he has been Putin’s go-to back-channel contact with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia – as well as key Trump allies like financier Erik Prince.
Dmitriev also won brownie points with the US by speaking out in favour of Michael Calvey, a top US banker jailed for alleged fraud in 2019.
Lately, Dmitriev has been at the table in Riyadh and Jeddah as part of Putin’s negotiating team with US counterparts to thrash out a ceasefire deal.
But unlike the slab-faced Soviet-era dinosaurs who surround him, Dmitriev has been the only Russian official putting out a consistently cheery and upbeat message.
The Kremlin reckons that he can push all the right buttons Stateside. Dmitriev already got off to a good start last week by suggesting that Russia could provide a miniaturised nuclear reactor to power Elon Musk’s notional Space X colony on Mars.
Putin’s pitch to the White House is perfectly crafted for Trump’s greedy ears. The Arctic, Dmitriev wrote on X, is a chance to “tap a $1T+ opportunity” – that’s one trillion dollars to non-finance bros – including “13% of untapped oil & 30% of gas 260 million tons per annum shipping via Northern Sea Route by 2035 and a 30–40% faster Europe–Asia trade path vs. Suez.”
According to Dmitriev, “the next frontier is here” in the frozen north, “the gateway to Earth’s crown jewel.”
Arctic security, minerals and shipping have clearly been on the White House’s mind, as attested by JD Vance’s recent Greenland adventures.
And the Dmitriev roadshow is offering just the kind of shiny baubles that sound good in speeches but are conveniently unverifiable short term.
Meanwhile. the Ukraine minerals deal is losing its lustre, not only because of Zelensky’s resistance but also because experts have debunked most of the magic numbers being bandied about the value and extraction costs of the country’s titanium, lithium, graphite and uranium.
It remains to be seen whether Trump will take the Kremlin’s bait. Dmitriev claims that resistance to US–Russia dialogue is “driven by entrenched interests and old narratives”.
And Washington’s bottom line remains that a Ukraine ceasefire needs to be done soon. But Putin’s big mission is to try to convert the US from Russia’s adversary into a partner.
If he succeeds, not only the endgame of the Ukraine war, but the entire strategic alignment of the Western world will be shaken to its foundations.