At the beginning of the negotiations, Putin showed Witkov on state television at the Presidential Library in St. Petersburg, and later said the negotiations lasted for more than four hours.
“The theme of the meeting – all aspects of Ukrainian settlements,” the Kremlin said in a statement after the meeting.
Witkoff talks about key figures in the key link between Moscow and Washington on Russia’s potential joint investments in the Arctic and Russian rare earths.
Izvestia news outlets earlier released a video of Witkoff, which left a hotel in the city, accompanied by Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev.
According to Tass, the Russian state news agency, Dmitryev convened talks on Friday’s efficiency. But the negotiations seemed to have stalled the divisions surrounding a full moratorium on hostilities as the Ukrainian dialogue aimed at agreeing to a ceasefire before a possible peace agreement to end the Ukrainian war. Trump, who showed signs of losing patience, said that if Moscow drags on Ukraine’s deal, it would impose secondary sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil.
Ukrainian officials sent a series of targets to Washington in recent days, saying Russia violated the attack on the energy infrastructure stop, and the two countries agreed to agree last month.
On Friday, Trump said in a post about the Truth Society: “Russia has to move. Too many people die, thousands a week, in a terrible and meaningless war – this war will never happen, if I were the president, it wouldn’t happen!!!”
Putin has said that he was in principle ready to agree to a complete ceasefire, while stressing that key implementation details remain unresolved and what he described as the root cause of the war has not been resolved.
Specifically, he said Ukraine should not join NATO, its military size needs to be limited, and Russia should obtain the entire territory of that territory, and although it does not have complete control over them, it claims to claim itself as its own territory.
With Moscow controlling 20% of Ukraine and Russian troops continuing to advance on the battlefield, the Kremlin believes Russia is in a strong position in negotiations and Ukraine should make concessions.
Kyiv said Russia’s clause would constitute surrender.
Trump-Pudin meeting?
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Vikov could discuss the possibility of Russian leaders facing Trump.
Putin and Trump have been speaking over the phone, but have not met in person since the U.S. leader returned to the White House for a second four-year term in January.
However, Peskov played a speech by Witkoff-Putin, and in Russian state media began saying that the visit of the U.S. envoy would not be “important” and would not be expected to break through.
He said the meeting would be an opportunity for Russia to express its concerns. Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of violating the moratorium on attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure.
The meeting, the third between Putkoff, is amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran and China (close Moscow allies), Tehran’s nuclear program has intensified and a boom with Beijing.
Witkoff visited a synagogue in St. Petersburg earlier Friday, and he will hold Saturday in Oman to hold talks with Iran on its nuclear program. Trump disagrees to reach a deal and threatens Tehran to take military action. Moscow has repeatedly provided help in an attempt to solve a diplomatic solution.
U.S. and Russian officials said they made progress in talks in Istanbul on Thursday to normalize diplomatic missions when they began rebuilding their ties.
A February meeting between Witkoff and Putin flew with U.S. envoys with Marc Fogel, who Washington once said was wrongly detained by Russia.
A Russian-American spa worker, Ksenia Karelina, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Russia, was switched to Arthur Petrov on Thursday, and the United States was accused of setting up a global smuggling ring that would transfer sensitive electronics to Russian troops.
