Russian President Vladimir Putin held lengthy talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin on Friday.
Witkoff’s visit was part of a broader diplomacy push by the administration of US President Donald Trump to advance bilateral efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict. The trip was Witkoff’s fourth diplomatic visit to Russia, which included at least three meetings with Putin, since the resumption of US-Russia talks.
The meeting took place behind closed doors, just like the previous visits by the US envoy, this time at the Kremlin.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and presidential investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev also took part in the meeting.
Here are the key takeaways from the talks.
“Constructive and very useful” meetingAccording to Ushakov, the three-hour conversation between Witkoff and the Russian leader was “constructive and very useful in nature.”
“The conversation allowed to further align Russian and US positions not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues,” he said, without going into details.
Apart from multiple rounds of high-level talks around the Ukraine conflict, Russia and the US have engaged in negotiations over restarting diplomatic contacts frozen under the administration of former President Joe Biden.
Possibility of direct Russia-Ukraine talks
Discussions touched on possibly resuming direct bilateral negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, Ushakov said.
No direct parley between two have taken place since Ukraine pulled out of the failed Istanbul talks in May of 2022. According to the head of Kiev’s delegation at the negotiations, David Arakhamia, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised Ukraine to abandon the diplomatic effort and continue fighting.
More talks coming
With agreements already reached in the course of US-Russian negotiations, more “productive” dialogue will be forthcoming “in the most active form,” Ushakov said.
Moscow has consistently said that it is open to engage in diplomacy, and expressed gratitude for Trump’s peace push.
Historic date
The date of the latest talks, April 25, carries a special meaning, falling on the 80th anniversary of the historic meeting of allied Soviet and American troops at the Elbe River in Nazi Germany during World War II, Ushakov and Dmitriev noted.
“This meeting is well known to symbolize the military alliance of our two countries in the fight against Nazism,” Ushakov said.
The event was “a historic moment that symbolized the joint victory over Nazism and a shared hope for postwar peace,” Dmitriev said.
Shuttle diplomacy
Direct talks allow both sides to explain the “nuances” of each other’s position, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia TV 1, commenting on the US-Russian negotiations.
When asked, he confirmed that Witkoff arrived with a message from Trump, and left with a return message from Putin.
“Of course, after all he is a special envoy,” the spokesman said.
This “shuttle diplomacy” is better than a phone call, as “it’s always easier to explain all the nuances in a personal conversation,” Peskov said. The multi-hour-long talks are a “good opportunity to convey our position to the American side,” he added.
Talks progressing
Trump has expressed satisfaction with the US-Russian negotiations following the talks on Friday.
“Work on the overall Peace Deal between Russia and Ukraine is going smoothly. SUCCESS seems to be in the future!” the US president wrote in a post on Truth Social.