A name between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump is feasible after the latter’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff held a gathering about Ukraine in St. Petersburg, the Kremlin mentioned Friday.
The assembly was additionally attended by Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the president’s particular consultant for overseas funding.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed journalists that the start of the assembly was “businesslike.”
Peskov additionally mentioned a phone dialog between Putin and Trump following the assembly is “theoretically possible.”
Earlier within the day, Witkoff arrived in Russia and met with Dmitriev.
The White House confirmed Witkoff’s go to, saying he went to Russia “to have direct communications with the Kremlin and with Vladimir Putin,” additional describing his journey as “another step in the negotiating process towards a ceasefire and an ultimate peace deal in Russia and Ukraine.”
“As these negotiations are ongoing, I obviously will not get ahead of the president, or his team but I think the president has been quite clear that he’s been continually frustrated with both sides of this conflict, and he wants to see this fighting end, and he wants the war to end,” spokesperson Karoline Leavitt instructed reporters.
This journey marks Witkoff’s third go to to Russia and the earlier journey passed off on March 13 in Moscow, the place he met senior Russian officers earlier than being obtained by Putin.
The quickest technique to dealer a cease-fire in Ukraine, mentioned Witkoff, was to assist a method that will give Russia possession of 4 japanese Ukrainian areas it tried to annex illegally in 2022, two U.S. officers and 5 individuals acquainted with the scenario instructed Reuters.
It was a degree Witkoff had made beforehand – and publicly in a podcast interview with conservative media persona Tucker Carlson final month – however one which Kyiv has repeatedly rejected and that some U.S. and European officers have dismissed as a maximalist Russian demand.
In the assembly with Trump, General Keith Kellogg, the president’s Ukraine envoy, pushed again towards Witkoff, saying Ukraine, although keen to barter some phrases associated to disputed land, would by no means conform to unilaterally cede whole possession of the territories to Russia, mentioned two of the sources.
The assembly ended with out Trump making a call to vary the U.S. technique. Witkoff traveled to Russia Friday to fulfill Putin.
Trump administration officers are more and more at odds over the right way to break the impasse between Ukraine and Russia, with Witkoff and Kellogg – who favors extra direct assist for Ukraine – disagreeing on the very best course ahead, in keeping with the U.S. officers and folks acquainted with the matter and 4 Western diplomats who’re in contact with administration officers.
Witkoff’s workplace, the National Security Council, the State Department, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Washington didn’t reply to requests for remark.
In a break with regular safety procedures, Witkoff had invited Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian envoy who’s below U.S. sanctions following Russia’s invasion, to his private residence for dinner earlier than the White House assembly.
Witkoff, an previous good friend of Trump’s who has helped safe key diplomatic victories for the president, has garnered some assist from the Republican Party’s Ukraine skeptics however his proposals have stoked outrage amongst different Republicans who imagine the administration has turned too sharply towards Moscow.
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill had been so involved about Witkoff’s obvious pro-Russia stance within the Carlson interview that a number of referred to as National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio afterward to complain, in keeping with an individual acquainted with the calls.
Since taking workplace in January, Trump has upended U.S. overseas coverage, urgent Ukraine to conform to a cease-fire whereas easing lots of the measures the Biden administration had taken to punish Russia for its 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
Some U.S. and European officers fear that as Witkoff pursues Trump’s technique, the Russians are making the most of his lack of expertise on the negotiating desk, in keeping with the 2 U.S. officers and greater than a dozen different individuals acquainted with the administration’s inside deliberations, together with Western diplomats.
“Witkoff must go, and Rubio must take his place,” learn a March 26 letter from Eric Levine, a significant Republican donor. The letter, despatched to a bunch together with Republican donors and seen by Reuters, was written after the Carlson interview and a Fox News look and criticized Witkoff for praising Putin.
Trump has repeatedly mentioned that he desires to dealer a ceasefire in Ukraine by May, arguing that the U.S. should finish a battle that has killed lots of of hundreds and dangers a direct confrontation between the U.S. and nuclear-armed Russia.
But two partial cease-fire offers – one on power infrastructure and one within the Black Sea – have stalled and the president has grow to be pissed off over the shortage of progress.
Source: www.dailysabah.com