Putin’s envoy says he is in talks with the Trump administration

On Thursday, the Kremlin envoy praised the Trump administration to hear the position of “Russia on many issues” two days after the meetings in Washington, the first time in which a senior Russian official traveled to the United States traveled to talks with their American counterparts.

The envoy, Kirill Dimitriev, met at the White House on Wednesday with President Trump’s assistant in Russia’s negotiations, Steve WitkevAccording to the US official in Washington with the knowledge of the talks.

Mr. Dimitrif, head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund and President Vladimir F. said. Putin Investment and Economic Cooperation, it held other meetings on Thursday “with the main members of the Trump administration”, without specifying their identity.

He said that he discussed economic matters and claimed that there was a great desire by American companies to return to Russia.

“Of course, there are differences about various points,” said Mr. Dimitriev, who speaks of Russian. “But there is an operation and dialogue, through our understanding, it will help to overcome these differences.”

US officials did not immediately comment on the essence of the talks.

Mr. Dimitriev arrived in Washington with assistants on Tuesday, and he and Mr. Wittouf met at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. The two officials continued to speak in the evening.

The talks seem to be the latest step in Russia’s efforts to improve relations with the United States. The rapprochement appeared to be suspended in balance after Mr. Trump said last weekend that he was “very angry” from Mr. Putin due to statements made by the Russian president in Ukraine.

The visit of Mr. Dimitrev came despite the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration He described it as “Putin’s known ally.” The meeting was also held, as Mr. Trump excluded Russia from List of countries that struck sharp tariffs On Wednesday.

The person in Washington said that the Treasury Department suspended sanctions on Mr. Dmitriev for a period of seven days to allow him to visit, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave him a waiver of travel and a visa.

The White House National Security Council referred questions about the Foreign Ministry’s visit on Thursday morning, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred questions to the White House.

Mr. Dimitriev, a 49 -year -old banker, has emerged in Stanford and Harvard, and worked in McKinsey and Joldman Sachs, as a major envoy for Mr. Putin in the Kremlin’s efforts to build a close relationship with Mr. Trump.

The message of Mr. Dimitriev, designed specifically for the mentality of Mr. Trump, was that the United States will make profit from the close relations with Russia.

In February, Mr. Dimitrif worked with Mr. Witkeov Help the mediator in the exchange of prisoners, which led to the release of Mark VogelAn American teacher imprisoned in Moscow.

In talks with Mr. Witkeov and other American officials in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a few days later, Mr. Dimitrif claimed that American companies incurred $ 324 billion in losses By withdrawing from Russia after Mr. Putin invaded Ukraine.

Mr. Dimitrev He said in a social media post Earlier on Thursday, his meetings were about restoring the American -Russian dialogue. He wrote that the relationship was “completely destroyed under the Biden Administration”, and the United States can benefit from cooperation “in international affairs and economics.”

Mr. Dimitrif did not mention whether he had discussed negotiations on the war in Ukraine between Moscow and Washington. It seems that these talks were going in recent days, after Mr. Putin Mr. Trump and Ukraine were rejected for a 30 -day ceasefire.

However, the visit of Mr. Dimitrif indicated that the Trump administration continues to reflect the removal of the Biden Diplomatic administration to Russia.

On another sign of the continued participation between Washington and Moscow, Sergey F. said. Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, this week that preparations are underway in a second round of talks aimed at alleviating the work of American and Russian diplomats working in each other’s countries.

American and Russian officials He met for the first time in Istanbul on February 27 To hold talks about the relaxing years of restrictions on the interest that reduced the American mission in Russia and the Russian mission in the United States to the skeleton staff.

“We can see signs of progress and the willingness of our partners in the United States to raise these obstacles to the natural work of diplomats in our capitals,” said Mr. Lavrov.