Russia: Kiril Dmitriyev, who is Putin’s man in talks with the US for Ukraine
Kiril Dmitriyev is the person who has emerged lately in Russia’s talks with the US about the war in Ukraine.
The Moscow Times points out that Dmitriyev is described as one of Russia’s most important investors and President Vladimir Putin’s personal envoy to « shadow foreign minister ».
His visit to Washington this month – the first for a high -ranking Russian official from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – made him widely recognizable and was the latest episode in the two countries’ talks that began after his return.
In addition to drawing his attention with his appearances on CNN and Fox News, Dmitryev also launched an account of X, which is blocked in Russia, where he publishes in English.
The relevant post for the interview with Fox News:
Talked to Bret Baier of Fox About Restoring Us Russia Relations and Avoiding wwiii pic.twitter.com/0rwt9bhkxw
– Kirill A. Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) April 4, 2025
Western education, career in Russia
Unlike many Russian officials, who rarely have western education, Kiril Dmitriyev, who was born in Kiev, studied at Stanford and Harvard.
He began his US career with Goldman Sachs and McKinsey before returning to Russia in the 2000s.
In 2011 he was appointed head of the Russian Fund for Investment Investment (RDIF), which he said, based on his successful investment history in Russia and not on his personal interconnections.
« I just recently started communicating closely with government representatives, » Dmitriyev said in an interview in 2012.
His course in RDIF
Appointed this year as Russia’s special envoy to International Economic and Investment Cooperation, Dmitriiev, 49, also continues to lead the RDIF – an organization in which, according to the US, « Putin and the narrow circle of its peers have long been based on the US. »
Under the leadership of Dmitriyev, the RDIF concluded investment partnerships with funds and companies from China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, France and the United Arab Emirates. Dmitriyev himself is known for cultivating relations with international political personalities, including Saudi Arabic Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom he has met dozens of times.
Although RDIF stresses that it is apolitical and « aligned with global standards », both RDIF and Dmitriyev suffered sanctions in 2022 from the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. RDIF is also under sanctions from the EU and Ukraine.
Dmitryev is now playing a key role in Russia – US peace negotiations, participated in a meeting with representatives of President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia in February and traveled to the US – a journey that, according to CNN, meant the US.
« Ambitious »
Dmitryev may have become worldwide known as Russia’s main negotiator in talks with the US, but it does not seem to be easy to approach him.
« Kiril is ambitious, he loves and appreciates himself. He always emphasizes his proximity to the president’s family. You can’t get close to him easily, « a source who has personally known Dmitriyev told the Moscow Times for a long time, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
« He always reacted quite emotionally if something went wrong or not going according to his plan. He could shout and step foot, « another person who worked in his orders in the past told the Moscow Times.
« The problem is that everyone who has met him and worked with him knows that he is an asshole, and if they publicly say this, they could destroy any possibility of doing jobs in Russia again, » a journalist who has been covering Russia for decades.
The Insider news agency cited another source that knows Dmitriyev saying that « he likes to perform with high -ranking phone calls » during the negotiations to push the partners to accept agreements.
In the « knives » with the Russian Foreign Minister?
According to sources of Russian media, Dmitriiev has also « clashed » with the Foreign Ministry.
Agentstvo news agency research agency said the confrontation between the two camps escaped during the first US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia on February 18, as Putin had authorized two separate negotiating groups without coordinating them.
« The (Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov was very surprised when he saw three chairs on the Russian side of the negotiation room, » Agentsvo’s anonymous source said, adding that he could not independently verify some of his source allegations.
When Lavrov was informed that the third place was for Dmitryev, he allegedly removed the chair from the table and said, « If he wants to participate, let Vladimir Vladimirovic himself tell me. »
« Everyone goes to Putin separately and he tells everyone something different, » said the agentsvo source. « This is one of the reasons why no one can clearly formulate Russia’s demands in talks. »
Kiril Dmitriyev.
What happened to the sputnik v vaccine
Dmitryev also allegedly was the reason why Sputnik V – the Russian -funded Russian -funded RDIF vaccine – did not receive international certification, although it was the first in the world registered by national authorities, according to former Russian diplomat Boris.
« It seems that Dmitriiev, if he was ever familiar with the western standards, exchanged them with the Russian system of the Putin era, » said Bodarev, who resigned from the Russian mission to the UN in Geneva after the invasion of Ukraine.
« The Putin system is: ‘Do what we and the Westerners will eventually bend. We have to make them bend. They should not set these terms for us, we will set the terms for them, ‘he said.
‘Putin’s assistant’
Dmitriyev also acted as an unofficial diplomatic envoy to the Persian Gulf, promoting links with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, according to the Anti -Corruption Foundation (FBK).
Although these missions were officially described as investment, critics have described him as a « shadowy foreign minister », to which the Kremlin entrusts sensitive missions, including attempts to arrange a meeting with Trump’s team after its first presidential victory and « secret » and « secret » plans.
A key factor behind this confidence may be in his close personal interconnections with Putin’s closed circle, according to Russian media.
« You can solve almost any problem through Kiril Alexandrovic (Dmitriyev), » Moscow told The Insider.
Dmitaliav’s wife, Natalia Popova, is Deputy Director of the Innopraktika Foundation, whose chief Katerina Tichonova is widely considered to be Putin’s daughter and is reportedly a Popova colleague at the University.
Independent Istories research has said that Dmitriyev provided Tichonova a Gulfstream G650 for her trips to Munich and allegedly leaked confidential information on RDIF’s business deals to former Putin groom Kiril Samalov. Dmitryev described the research as « one of the thousands of false stories ».
‘The value of his real estate has increased twenty times’
The FBK also accused Dmitriyev of raising more than $ 7.5 billion (about $ 93.75 million) in assets in various countries, including France and the United Arab Emirates. According to the FBK, during the time when Dmitriyev worked as the head of the RDIF, the value of his real estate increased twenty times.
Russia and US talks continue
Following his visit to Washington last week, Dmitriyev announced further Russian -American « contacts » that will take place this week.
« Undoubtedly, great emphasis is on the restoration of Russian -American relations, something I have been working for for many years, » Dmitriyev said in an interview on the state channel Channel One in Russia.
« Russia has resisted the attempted strategic defeat that its government tried to impose (President Joe) Biden, » Dmitriyev said.
« The United States is trying to understand where the convergence points are located between US and Russia’s interests. We see the beginning of a constructive dialogue with respect, « he added.
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