Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with Steve Witkoff, the special envoy of US President Donald Trump, according to footage released by the Kremlin.
Witkoff, who has traveled to Russia multiple times in his role as special envoy, landed in Moscow earlier on Wednesday on what Trump has described as a make-or-break diplomatic mission.
The US president has threatened buyers of Russian energy with secondary sanctions unless progress is made in resolving the Ukraine conflict. The Kremlin responded that demands for sovereign states to halt economic ties with Moscow have no legal basis.
Since taking office in January, Trump has reopened high-level diplomatic channels with Moscow, reversing the isolationist approach of his predecessor, Joe Biden. The Trump administration has argued that engagement between the two nuclear superpowers is essential and could result in mutual benefits.
Nevertheless, Trump has grown frustrated over the lack of swift results from his efforts to broker a peace deal, according to his public remarks. Moscow has maintained that it prefers diplomacy but will not allow the presence of a NATO-aligned adversary on its borders at the expense of national security.
Kiev has continued to call on its Western backers to ramp up their military support and expand the sanctions on Russia. Some European governments have appealed to the US to sell them weapons to sustain shipments to Ukraine.
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