Vladimir Putin held a meeting with US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff

Vladimir Putin with US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff
Photo: RIA Novosti

Vladimir Putin held a meeting with US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Constantine Palace, St Petersburg, Kremlin informs.

On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev.

Photo: RIA Novosti

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Witkoff, we are delighted to see you – this time in St Petersburg.

We know that yesterday you had a meeting in Norway, and I would like to hear about its outcome.

I would like to thank you and President Trump for your attention to the resolution of the Ukraine crisis. I know that it is a special matter for President Trump, primarily for humanitarian reasons. In our conversations, including our most recent conversation over the phone, he emphasised the importance of ending this conflict to prevent further losses among the personnel on both sides.

Of course, it goes beyond military losses. The civilian population is suffering. In this regard, please pass my most sincere gratitude not only to the President but also to First Lady [Melania Trump] for her contribution to resolving humanitarian issues.

I believe both sides would be interested in discussing plans for restoring our bilateral relations, the Russia-US contacts, including economic cooperation.

If possible, of course, I am extremely interested in hearing your assessment of the situation in the Middle East and around Iran. You know that Russia has a special, trusted relationship with Iran, our partners in Iran and our friends, because this relationship has developed for decades. If we can do anything for settling this crisis, we will be glad to help. You are well informed about our proposals on this matter.

Indeed, these and other topics could be the focus of our exchange of views today, including a possible meeting in China. I also have some thoughts on this matter that I would like to share with you.

Please pass my most sincere words of gratitude to President Trump for his efforts in resolving the crisis in Ukraine.

Thank you.

US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff: Thank you, President Putin. So good to see you. Sorry, I’m not good with technology.

First of all, I want to thank you very much. The President sends his thanks. Our whole nation sends their thanks because of Steven Hubbard. Because of you, he is going home to his family.

I actually met with his son just the other day. He is a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church. And he talked quite a bit about you. So the first thing I want to tell you is thank you.

Vladimir Putin: He is currently at Pulkovo Airport.

Steve Witkoff: Yes, we are going to meet him. He is a 75-year-old man. You talk so much about my President, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir. I salute that. I commend you, and I thank you again.

We have a lot to talk about today on our agenda. We have to talk about some of the meetings that happened yesterday in Oslo. I think they were productive, and I think there is some degree of momentum. And I hope that today can be another step forward in this peace process and discussing how we resolve the Ukrainian conflict.

I know the First Lady is grateful for being able to work on behalf of some of her humanitarian projects in the Russian Federation. I will extend to her your best wishes and blessings.

One thing that I hope to accomplish today is to have some good conversation between us about resumption, potentially, of trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States. I am hoping that you might consider that as the next step in the peace process, so we can begin to have technical teams discussing what are those next steps. I think that is important. I hope that even if we do not have a resolution today, if we just talk about it and sort of consider what that next step might be, I think that might be important, and I think the world is waiting for us to get there.

The business and economic cooperation between our governments is an example of what the possibilities are in the future. I think it has been really, really good dealing with Kirill.

(To Kirill Dmitriev:) You have been outstanding, Kirill, you really have, I think. Our Treasury Department is working with you now independently, and I think that is leading to a sense of what possibilities are between our two nations.

We even talk about it now openly with the Ukrainians, to give them some sort of sense about what the possibilities will be when this whole conflict is ended.

Your decision to remove the export controls on diesel oil from Russia and to sell not just to the United States but also to the world at large in the midst of this economic shock – I think that was a really important act on your part, sir. I know my President is deeply grateful for it, as are our farmers and other people, truckers, who use diesel and have been adversely affected by this diesel crisis, and people all over the world. So it is an example of us all working together. I want to say thank you too for that.

We have brought some papers for you to look at. They are really some ideas about the different elements of some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. And you will read them at your leisure later on. But Jared, who I think we will put on the phone shortly, also wants to say some things to you.

Vladimir Putin: With regard to diesel, prices on the global market fell immediately by 5–6 percent following the announcement by both sides that supplies would be delivered to the United States.

We are currently preparing shipments – several vessels, tankers. The first tanker, carrying 40,000 tonnes, will depart in two or three days, and the others will follow in succession. The only important thing now is to finalise the financial arrangements so that everything proceeds smoothly.

As for the farmers – I am aware of this, and President Trump even mentioned it during our telephone conversations – we could also supply fertilisers to the American market in large quantities.

We will discuss all these matters.

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