Russian President Vladimir Putin has held an extended meeting with US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, marking a significant step in renewed diplomatic engagement between Moscow and Washington, according to Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov.
The meeting, which lasted approximately four hours in the Kremlin, was described by Ushakov as “exceptionally in-depth, constructive, and extremely frank.” The US delegation included Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and White House Senior Advisor Josh Gruenbaum, who joined the talks for the first time in his capacity as an economic specialist.
Ushakov said the US representatives had arrived in Moscow from Davos, where they participated in events alongside US President Donald Trump, including discussions related to a potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict. Witkoff and Kushner also shared first-hand accounts of President Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as insights from recent contacts in Mar-a-Lago and several European capitals.
According to Ushakov, the primary focus of the meeting was to assess information gathered by the United States from its engagements with Ukrainian and European counterparts and to determine possible next steps in Russian-US interaction.
An agreement was reached to convene the first meeting of a trilateral working group on security matters involving Russia, the United States, and Ukraine. The meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 23, in Abu Dhabi. In parallel, Abu Dhabi will also host a meeting of the heads of a bilateral Russian-US working group on economic issues, co-chaired by Kirill Dmitriev and Steve Witkoff.
Russia has already formed its security negotiating team, led by Admiral Igor Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, and including senior officials from the Defence Ministry. Ushakov said the delegation would depart for the United Arab Emirates within hours, following specific instructions issued by President Putin.
Ushakov emphasized that participants in the Kremlin talks reaffirmed that a lasting settlement of the Ukraine conflict would be unlikely without addressing territorial issues, based on a formula previously agreed upon in Anchorage.
President Putin reiterated Russia’s commitment to resolving the Ukraine crisis through political and diplomatic means. However, Ushakov noted that Russia would continue pursuing the objectives of its special military operation as long as a settlement is not reached, citing what he described as Russia’s strategic initiative on the battlefield.
The talks also covered US President Donald Trump’s proposal to establish a “Board of Peace,” along with broader regional issues and the situation surrounding Greenland. Russia expressed readiness to contribute $1 billion to the proposed Board of Peace using Russian assets frozen under the previous US administration. Ushakov added that remaining frozen assets could potentially be directed toward post-conflict reconstruction, subject to further discussion within the bilateral economic working group.
In addition, the two sides discussed the long-term development of Russian-US relations at a conceptual level, highlighting what Ushakov described as significant potential for cooperation across various sectors once the Ukraine conflict is resolved. American representatives, he said, are already considering possible post-settlement initiatives.
Ushakov concluded by stating that the Kremlin meeting was “useful in every sense” for both sides and that Russia and the United States agreed to maintain close contact on Ukraine-related issues as well as other matters of mutual interest.
/Argumentum.al
