What is known about negotiations with Whitkoff
The special representative of the President of the Russian Federation on investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries Kirill Dmitriev held a series of meetings in Washington with the administration officials Donald Trump. The trip of Mr. Dmitriev was the first visit of a major official from the Russian Federation for the ocean after February 24, 2022 and was a continuation of the negotiations launched by Mr. Trump between Moscow and Washington to restore bilateral relations and resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The American tour of the Kremlin’s envoy took place after a portion of suspicions from the owner of the Oval cabinet addressed to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in delaying the peaceful settlement and at the time of Donald Trump’s introduction to goods from almost all countries of the world. One of the rare exceptions was Russia.
In the United States, for the first time since the beginning of a full -scale conflict of Russia and Ukraine, a senior representative of the Russian Federation flew, which was the head of the RDII Kirill Dmitriev. Unless, of course, not to consider the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, who has since arrived several times to New York at the UN headquarters, which, however, was not formally considered for visits to the United States.
In order for the special representative of the Russian president to land on American land, Washington temporarily lifted the sanctions from Mr. Dmitriev.
On the night of April 3, agency Reuters It was reported that, having barely flew to Washington, the head of the RDIP held negotiations with the special representative of US President Steve Whitkoff, who had previously visited Moscow and talked with Vladimir Putin.
As the publication emphasized with reference to American sources, « the Trump administration continues to put pressure on Russia and Ukraine so that they agree to the ceasefire. » And literally the day before Donald Trump in an interview NBC News He stated that he was “furious” and “very angry” because of the latest statements by Mr. Putin, who proposed introducing temporary administration in Kyiv. In addition, he threatened to introduce secondary duties on all Russian oil within a month if the agreement on the termination of hostilities is not reached due to the fault of Moscow. In other words, the head of the White House actually promised to make Russian oil impossible to buy without any serious consequences.
At the same time on April 2, when Donald Trump Introduced Various two -digit duties on imports from almost all countries of the world, Russia was not in the tariff list. The press secretary of the White House Caroline Levitt explained that the Russian Federation did not fall under new barriers, since the sanctions introduced against Moscow already « exclude any significant trade. » Edition AxiosTrue, it noted that although the Russian-American turnover from 2021 and fell about ten times-from $ 35 billion to $ 3.5 billion, it still remains higher than the US mutual trade with many countries that fell on the Donald Trump list. A number of experts suggested that the head of the White House did not introduce additional duties against the Russian Federation, because he wanted to save them as a pressure tool for Moscow. Mrs. Levitt assured that Russia could still encounter « additional gesture sanctions. »
It is noteworthy that Kirill Dmitriev, while in the USA, praised Donald Trump for the introduction of import duties.
According to him, in this way, Washington corrects structural trade imbalances and creates a “precedent for independent growth and sustainable creation of jobs”.
Despite the increased interest of the media in the contacts of the Russian official with the American colleagues, neither the Russian Federation, nor the United States did not comment on what was happening in Washington, getting off with mean comments. Thus, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov assured that he could not reveal the “any details” of the visit of Kirill Dmitriev, and only specified that he went to the United States “on behalf of the president, as part of his mandate”. Mr. Peskov promised that Mr. Dmitriev himself « then he would give information, upon completion of contacts. »
The same was promised by Kirill Dmitriev, on the morning of April 3 in his Telegram channel Lastly commenting on the trip to Washington, without revealing any details. According to the head of the RDIP, “the dialogue between Russia and the USA-the most important for the whole world-was completely destroyed under the administration (ex-president Joe.- « Kommersant ») Biden, ”and today on the way to the restoration of“ constructive interaction ”between the two countries“ there are numerous forces interested in maintaining tension ”.
“These forces deliberately distort the position of Russia, try to disrupt any steps to the dialogue, not sparing any means or resources to this. Opponents of rapprochement are afraid that Russia and the United States will find common points of contact, begin to better understand each other and build cooperation – both in international affairs and in the economy, ”Mr. Dmitriev said, making it clear that his visit to Washington, apparently, had to disrupt the ideas of ill -wishers, especially since“ every meeting allows you to move forward ”.
The head of the RDIP added that a real understanding of the Russian position opens up opportunities for interaction between the Russian Federation and the USA « including in the investment and economic sphere. »
Thus, Ukraine never sounded in the commentary of Kirill Dmitriev, although this problem occupies a significant share of attention to the process of restoring dialogue between Moscow and Washington.
