Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff have held talks in Moscow, the Kremlin has said, two days before a Friday deadline the US president set for Russia to reach a peace deal in the Ukraine war or face fresh sanctions,
The Guardian reports.
Russian news agencies said the talks ended after about three hours, and Witkoff’s convoy was seen leaving the Kremlin. There was no immediate statement from either side on how the talks had gone.
The visit is Witkoff’s fifth trip to Moscow in his capacity as Trump’s lead negotiator with the Kremlin, and comes as Trump has begun to talk tough on Russia for the first time since taking over the presidency.
Trump cut short an earlier 50-day deadline to Putin, claiming he saw no desire in the Kremlin to change its behaviour and calling recent strikes that killed civilians in Kyiv “disgusting”. He has now promised to introduce secondary tariffs on countries that import Russian oil if no progress is made by Friday.
“We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow,” Trump said on Tuesday, when asked if the threat still stood. “We’re going to see what happens. We’ll make that determination at that time.”
After Trump made the threat of further sanctions, the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev claimed the harsh rhetoric could lead to a direct conflict between Russia and the US. In response, Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be repositioned.
Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday and was pictured taking an early morning stroll through a park in central Moscow with Kirill Dmitriev, a Kremlin envoy who has played a key role in negotiations so far.
“It is very important to strengthen all the levers in the arsenal of the United States, Europe, and the G7 so that a ceasefire truly comes into effect immediately. Ukraine sees the political will, appreciates the efforts of our partners, of America, and of everyone who is helping,” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote on social media on Wednesday, shortly after Witkoff landed in Moscow.
Putin has given little indication that he is ready to make concessions or willing to adjust Russia’s core war aims. However, reports by Bloomberg and the independent Russian news outlet the Bell have suggested that the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both sides as an offering to Trump. Both Trump and Kyiv have been calling for a full and unconditional ceasefire, to allow negotiations to begin, but a halt to long-range strikes could offer welcome breathing space to both sides.
