Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and special Putin envoy who was sent this week to meet with top US officials in Washington, has said his two-days of meetings went well and that positive steps were made.
"I would say that today and yesterday, we made three steps forward on a large number of issues," Dmitriev said after meeting with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, who has also been deeply involved in Ukraine negotiations.
It was Witkoff who met last month with President Putin in Moscow. As for Dmitriev's visit, it marked the first official trip of a top Russian official to the United States to meet with US officials since the Ukraine war began.
Dmitriev told CNN in a fresh interview that he conveyed to the Trump administration that Moscow is ready to do business again with American companies.
"At this point, we are not asking for any sanction relief. We are just discussing that if America wants to have more business with Russia... then of course US can do so," he said.
He warned that both sides must overcome the lack of communication which marked the opening three years of war in Ukraine. "Therefore, the process of dialogue, the process of resolution will take some time, but it is definitely positive and constructive," he described.
Dmitriev was in the US during the 'Liberation day' tariff rollout, praising a policy that reflects "a growing shift toward economic sovereignty and national interest."
"I think there is an understanding for how we can move to finalize the agreement. And there have been lots of discussion in that realm, lots of differences still remain, but I think there are several passes to try to address all those issues and only diplomatic solution can be possible," Dmitriev said further to CNN.
He additionally stated in a separate interview while in D.C., "If President Putin commits to something, it gets done. Putin is a historic leader. Trump is a historic leader. They can work together to make history happen. If they cannot achieve major progress, few leaders can."
Despite these positive diplomatic engagements, the question of where overall negotiations to end the war in Ukraine stand remains the same: slow-moving and even perhaps stalled. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Tuesday that current US proposals on ending the war can't be accepted in their current form. He complained they don't address the "root causes" and that Kiev doesn't appear ready to get serious about pursuing peace.
"What we have today is an effort to find a framework that would make it possible to ensure America’s vision for a ceasefire. The idea is to then move on to some other models and frameworks, which, as far as we can see, leave no room for Russia’s core demand, that is, the need to resolve the issues stemming from the root causes of this conflict," he said, as quoted in TASS.
Below are some Friday geopolitical developments via Newsquawk....
Geopolitics: Middle East
Geopolitics: Ukraine