The in-person meeting on Wednesday between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin was “rather useful and constructive,” according to an aide to the Russian leader.
Their conversation, which occurred at the Kremlin in Moscow, lasted about three hours and also involved Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov.
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“If we name the topics, then first of all, of course, it is the Ukrainian crisis. And the second topic is the prospects for the possible development of strategic cooperation between the U.S. and Russia,” Ushakov said, according to Russian state media. “The situation now is that our president has full information, that is, our signals, signals from President Trump. And Trump has not yet been informed of the results of the meeting. Therefore, I would refrain from more detailed comments.”
Witkoff’s trip to Moscow, his fifth in recent months as the lead negotiator for the U.S.’s efforts to stop the Russia-Ukraine war, comes days ahead of the deadline President Donald Trump set for Putin to agree to end the conflict.
Trump initially set a 50-day deadline for negotiations last month, but then moved it up to a 10-day time frame after Russia continued carrying out attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. The 10-day deadline is set to expire at the end of this week.
If the time period expires without a deal, Trump has threatened to impose stiff tariffs and sanctions, including secondary sanctions targeting countries that trade with Russia. The subject of Russia’s oil sales to countries such as China and India has gained attention as the U.S. considers secondary sanctions on Russia, though neither country has indicated it would reduce its purchases of Russian oil.
Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday imposing an additional 25% tariff on India in response to its continued purchase of Russian oil, raising the total levies to 50%.
“I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” the executive order said.
Trump began his second term wanting to negotiate an end to the war, which lasted for about three and a half years. His administration’s efforts to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire included overtures that the Biden administration did not pursue. But after six months, Trump has turned his ire on Putin, who has held up negotiations by maintaining maximalist demands that the Russian army was unable to accomplish on the battlefield.
Trump spoke on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the war and Trump’s 10-day deadline.
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“Today, we coordinated our positions — Ukraine and the United States. We exchanged assessments of the situation: The Russians have intensified the brutality of their attacks. President Trump is fully informed about Russian strikes on Kyiv and other cities and communities. Of course, we spoke about sanctions against Russia. Their economy continues to decline, and that’s exactly why Moscow is so sensitive to this prospect and President Trump’s resolve,” Zelensky said. “This can change a lot.”