A Russian economic official who serves as an envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Washington this week and held two days of talks with US officials, which he said went well.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, the Russian government’s sovereign wealth fund, told reporters on Thursday while still in Washington that the talks made progress.
“I would say that today and yesterday, we made three steps forward on a large number of issues,” Dmitriev said.
Dmitriev said that a major issue impeding the US-Russia relationship was the lack of communication. “Therefore, the process of dialogue, the process of resolution will take some time, but it is definitely positive and constructive,” he said.
In an interview with CNN, Dmitriev said he wasn’t in the US to ask for sanctions relief but conveyed that Russia was ready to do business with American companies. “At this point, we are not asking for any sanction relief. We are just discussing that if America wants to have more business with Russia … then of course US can do so,” he said.
On Wednesday, Dmitriev met with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, who has also been involved in negotiations on the Ukraine war and has met with Putin in Moscow. Dmitriev’s visit to the US comes amid uncertainty over the prospects for a peace deal in Ukraine, but he spoke positively of the negotiations.
“I think there is an understanding for how we can move to finalize the agreement. And there have been lots of discussion in that realm, lots of differences still remain, but I think there are several passes to try to address all those issues and only diplomatic solution can be possible,” he told CNN.
