MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it hoped a meeting in Russia between President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff could be organised in the near future to discuss the Ukraine peace process and a range of “very important issues.”
Witkoff is expected to hold talks in Oslo on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and representatives from the E4 – made up of Britain, France, Germany, and Poland. Officials from the European Union and NATO are also expected to attend.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Witkoff could brief Putin on the position of the Ukrainians and Europeans when they met.
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“We hope that a meeting can be arranged in the very near future, and that the American negotiators, Mr Witkoff, will be able to brief President Putin on their contacts with both the Ukrainians and the Europeans, as well as to continue the exchange of views between Washington and Moscow on a whole range of very important issues. We consider such meetings to be of great importance on every occasion; they are always timely and very substantive, and we greatly appreciate the mediation efforts of the American negotiators,” Peskov told reporters.
He did not give further details. Some US media have reported that Witkoff may meet Putin on Wednesday in St Petersburg.
A recent call between Putin and Trump produced an agreement on Russian diesel supplies, which Trump said could lower prices but which alarmed Ukraine and European allies.