Almost five whole hours lasted the -perhaps the most critical for its future since the beginning of the war- talks behind its closed doors, between the negotiating team consisting of his special envoy Steve Witkov and his son-in-law Jared Kushner and on the Russian side represented by the president of Russia himself, his confidante Yuri Usakov and the head of the head of the of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the main interlocutor of the Americans, Kirill Dimitriev.
The first reaction to the meeting came from Dimitriev, who claimed, while Witkov was at the US embassy in Moscow, that the talks were “productive” and in a post on social media he added alongside a white dove holding an olive branch.
Productive 🕊️
— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev)
For his part, Yuri Ushakov, after the meeting, claimed that Putin’s talks with Vitkov were constructive, useful and meaningful. According to him, no specific formulations or final solutions were discussed, but the essence of the issues. “We are ready to agree on certain points. Some others have been subject to criticism. However, a useful discussion took place,” the advisor to the Russian president said.
At the same time, he noted that territorial issues were also raised. As he said, compromises have not yet been found and there is currently no scheduled meeting between the leaders of Russia and the United States. Nevertheless, he said the effort to reach a long-term peaceful solution would continue and revealed that Moscow had now received four more documents, in addition to Trump’s original 28-point plan to resolve the issue in Ukraine.
According to him, the two sides see “huge prospects for cooperation” and “definitely have not moved away” from each other. As he pointed out, more work needs to be done.
Show of strength by Putin before the meeting
Earlier, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin had once again made a show of strength, since while Kirill Dimitriev was “showing around” Donald Trump’s envoys, Witkov and Kushner, in Moscow, while issuing threats both against Ukraine (that he will cut it off from the sea after the recent attacks on Russian tankers), but also against Europe. As he characteristically noted before going to the talks with the American envoys – in which the European powers apparently have no place – “If Europe wants to fight, Russia is ready”.
Putin once again accused Europe of trying to undermine Trump’s peace efforts by putting forward proposals he knew were unacceptable to Russia.
“They are on the side of war,” Putin said of the European powers. “We clearly see that all these changes are aimed at one thing: to completely block the peace process, to set such demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia.”
The “mess” of the Ukraine war and Trump’s marginally indifferent attitude
This Putin tactic, which is essentially Russia’s overall stance on Ukraine and the countries that support Kiev, is designed so that any progress on the issue of settling the war will come in agreement with the US and the administration of Donald Trump, which has made it clear that it has practically withdrawn from the conflict in Ukraine.
according to which: “The US is no longer financially involved in it, except for selling weapons to NATO, but they are still trying to close this issue. I have settled eight wars. This would be the ninth, and our people are now in Russia to see if we can finish it. It’s not an easy situation, what can I tell you, crap. It’s a war that would never have happened if I was president, not even in my mind.”
The US is keeping Kyiv and Europe on edge and at a distance
From the above, but also from the general attitude of the USA towards Ukraine and Europe in the past period – from the presentation of Trump’s 28-point plan (which, as it was revealed, came about after contacts between the same people who were meeting in the Kremlin today) to the meeting in (without him after investigations at his home for the huge Energoatom corruption scandal) – it becomes clear that any contacts with Kiev and Europeans are made with something that it looks like the principle of the need to know (on a need to know basis).
Zelensky is optimistic, but also worried
For this reason Volodymyr Zelensky in his statements earlier from Dublin made it clear that he expects immediate information from Steve Witkov and Jared Kushner regarding their discussion on Ukraine with Vladimir Putin, Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dimitriev in the Kremlin. Zelensky described the latest developments as “the best chance yet to end the war”, but warned that the decisions expected to be required would not be easy. Zelensky’s reports refer to the revised framework agreed on Sunday in Florida. and that any peace initiative must take into account Ukrainian interests and international accountability for Russian aggression.
Will Witkov and Kushner go to Brussels?
Corresponding information from the USA is according to which this information is very likely to take place at tomorrow’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers, in Brussels where there is a possibility that Witkov and Kushner will go to meet with the Ukrainian delegation that will be there as part of the NATO-Ukraine Council. The NATO-Ukraine Council will be attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sibiha and the head of European diplomacy Kaya Kalas. Axios claims the two envoys will meet with Zelensky tomorrow to brief him on the talks.
