Restoring U.S.-Russian dialogue is challenging, Putin’s envoy says

President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for international economic and investment cooperation confirmed Thursday that he has been meeting with White House officials to restore a U.S.-Russian dialogue that was “completely destroyed under the Biden administration."

A Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev announced on social media app Telegram on Thursday that he had met with 'representatives of the administration of President Donald Trump' on Wednesday and Thursday. This was first time in years that a senior Russian official had traveled to the United States for talks with American counterparts.

The envoy Dmitriev is the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and serves as President Vladimir Putin’s special representative for economic cooperation with foreign countries. 

Dmitriev stated that "restoring dialogue is a challenging and gradual process," but added that "a real understanding of the Russian position opens new possibilities for constructive cooperation, including in investment and economics."

Dmitriev did not specify with whom he was meeting, but his primary known American counterpart in recent weeks has been Steve Witkoff, the White House envoy for the Middle East and Russia.

"There are many forces in various countries around the world that are interested in maintaining tensions and blocking the restoration of constructive cooperation," Dmitriev wrote on Telegram.

"The enemies of rapprochement fear that Russia and the U.S. may find areas of common interest, begin to understand each other better, and build cooperation in both international affairs and the economy," he added.

The U.S. president said on Sunday that he was 'pissed off' with Putin for dragging out negotiations and threatened secondary sanctions against Russia’s oil exports if no deal was reached.

However, on Wednesday, Russia was notably absent from the so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs that Trump introduced against U.S. imports. U.S. officials explained that Russia was excluded from the list due to the existing sanctions regime against Moscow."

Copied