Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said on Friday that Russia, the US and Ukraine are “close enough” to reach a diplomatic solution to end Moscow's full-scale war against Ukraine, the Kyiv Post notes.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to the US. PHOTO: Archive
Speaking to CNN after arriving in Washington for talks with US officials, Dmitriev also denied that the planned meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had been cancelled, as the US president had previously announced. He suggested that the two leaders could meet at a later date.
The summit, originally scheduled for Budapest, was postponed on Tuesday after Russia rejected an immediate truce – a failure Trump cited as justifying the delay. The US president said he had canceled the talks because of the case “lack of progress in diplomatic efforts” and because “the time was not right.”
However, Dmitriev was optimistic: “I think Russia, the US and Ukraine are actually quite close to a diplomatic solutionHe did not provide details on what such an agreement might include.
According to Axios, Dmitriev is scheduled to meet with Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Miami on Saturday. Russian news agency TASS reported that Dmitriev will have other, unspecified meetings during his visit.
European diplomats told Reuters that EU countries were working with Ukraine on a new ceasefire proposal along the current battle lines – an idea designed to keep the US engaged while acknowledging the reality on the ground.
“It's an important step that President Zelenskiy has already acknowledged that it's about the battle lines. His previous position was for Russia to leave the territory completely, so I think we're reasonably close to a workable diplomatic solution,” Dmitriev said.
The statements come in the context of new US sanctions against Russia's two biggest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, aimed at limiting the Kremlin's ability to finance the war in Ukraine. Dmitriev criticized the sanctions and warned that they would hurt American consumers more than the Russian economy: “They will only increase the price of gasoline in the United States.”
Around the same time, Trump embarked on a three-stop Asia tour focused on the North Korean nuclear threat, trade tensions with Beijing and new efforts to cut Moscow's oil revenues. The centerpiece of the trip will be a face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC Summit in South Korea, with talks focusing on trade disputes, export controls and China's purchase of Russian oil.
