US Sonderer Witkoff at Putin-DiePresse.com
« Russia has to move, » said Trump on his « Truth Social » platform again in the run -up to the meeting. The US President urges an early fire break. Otherwise, further sanctions against Russia could be decided.
The US specialist Steve Witkoff spoke to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg for more than four hours about the Russian attack war against Ukraine. The meeting was over, reported the Russian news agency Interfax. Specific results were initially not known. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskow did not rule out that after the interviews there could also be another phone call Putin with US President Donald Trump.
Witkoff brought a message to Trump, who listened to Putin, Peskow said. The conversations on the various aspects of a solution to the conflict around Ukraine continued. It is about difficult questions. The meeting is a good opportunity to present the various elements of the position and the concern of Russia and to transmit them via Witkoff Trump, said Peskow.
Trump urges the Ukraine War to end
U.S. President Donald Trump once again put Moscow under pressure after Witkoff’s arrival. He wrote on the Truth Social platform: « Russia has to move. Too many people die, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war. »
If no fire break was reached by the end of the month, Trump could impose additional sanctions against Russia, « Axios » reported with reference to an anonymous source.
USA under Trump with 180-degree turn in Russia policy
Witkoff has already met Putin in Russia twice with Putin in Russia since the re-entry of US President Donald Trump, including to talk to him about a US proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. After these meetings, he described the Kremlin chief as a « great leader » and « not a bad person ». The current visit took place before Witkoff’s trip to Oman, where he wants to talk about his nuclear program on Saturday as the leader of a US delegation.
Under Trump, the United States has made a dramatic turn in its Russia policy. The US President urges the Ukraine conflict that has been going on for more than three years. In addition, there were discussions between US representatives and Ukraine as well as with Russia last month in Saudi Arabia. In view of the lack of progress, Trump had recently been angry with both the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj and Kremlin boss Putin. Putin had given a cancellation for an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine.
Head of secret service boss provides further prisoner outlets
However, small progress in US Russian relationships were made in other areas: on Thursday there was an exchange of prison between the two countries, in which the US-Russian ballerina Xenia Karelina, which was imprisoned in Russia, was released to the German-Russian Arthur Petrov. The head of the Russian foreign intelligence agency, Sergei Naryschkin, prospect further prisoner outlets on Friday and told journalists that the dialogue with the new US government will continue to be continued in this direction. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the exchange of prisoners had contributed to rebuilding « the urgently needed trust » between both sides.
In addition, delegations from Russia and the United States met in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Thursday to talk about restoring their messages. In the course of the cooled relationships between both countries, these had drastically reduced their staff. (APA/dpa)
