During the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the special envoy of the US President Steve Witkoff on April 25, the issue of resuming direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv was discussed, in particular. This was reported by the press service of the Kremlin following the meeting.
Assistant to the President of Russia on foreign policy, Yuriy Ushakov, who was also present at the talks, described the meeting as constructive and “very useful.” According to Ushakov, the negotiations in the Kremlin lasted about three hours. He noted that during the meeting it was possible to converge positions not only on Ukraine, but also on a number of other international issues. Putin offered Witkoff to organize a summit with Trump as soon as possible, as a direct dialogue without intermediaries will help to reach agreements on a wide range of issues.
“Russia has made significant concessions, but more work needs to be done to reach agreements.” Ushakov added.
The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmytro Peskov, called Witkoff’s visit “shuttle diplomacy.” During a meeting with Putin, Witkoff gives him a message from Trump, and then a message from Putin to Trump.
At the same time, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, too commented talks between his special representative Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin.
“US Ambassador Witkoff had a good meeting”, – said Trump.
The US president did not provide any details regarding the conversation between Witkoff and Putin.
It will be recalled that this was already the fourth meeting between Witkoff and Putin since Donald Trump returned to the White House. Their previous conversation took place on April 11 in St. Petersburg and lasted four and a half hours. Steve Witkoff serves as the US special representative for the Middle East and participates in the negotiation process regarding the settlement of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He is responsible for maintaining contacts with the Russian side.
