Trump’s representative travels to Russia for the third time to meet with Putin
11 April 10:28
Today, on April 11, US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic representative, Steve Witkoff, left for Russia. In Moscow, he is to meet again with the president of the aggressor country, Vladimir Putin. This was reported by Axios, whose journalists cited a source familiar with the plans for such a trip, as well as FlightRadar data, Komersant ukrainskyi reports
“This is the third meeting between Vitkoff and Putin as Trump insists on a ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine,” the report said.
According to journalists, Donald Trump is disappointed that the talks have not made much progress in recent weeks.
And at one point, the media writes, the American president said he was “furious” about Vladimir Putin’s comments on Ukraine.
The authors of the article suggested that if a ceasefire agreement is not reached by the end of the month, Trump may impose additional sanctions against Russia either through the executive branch or by asking Congress to pass new sanctions legislation.
“We will know soon enough, in a few weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not. I hope so,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels.
The publication also reminded that last week, Vitkoff hosted Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Washington, trying to break the deadlock in the Russian-Ukrainian war and the situation around it.
As you know, on Thursday, the United States and Russia signed a prisoner exchange agreement. It provided, in particular, for the release of Ksenia Karelin, a citizen of the United States and Russia. Negotiations on the deal were the result of a previous meeting between Witkoff and Putin in March.
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the “peace” process
Ukraine and its allies accuse Russia of deliberately stalling negotiations to end its three-year full-scale invasion by putting forward a list of demands and conditions that delay the process, while trying to create the impression of engaging in peace talks.
Trump last month acknowledged that Kremlin officials may be “dragging their feet” on the ceasefire, and last week said he was “furious” with Putin after the Russian leader called for Zelenskiy’s removal.
According to NBC, members of Trump’s inner circle are urging the US president not to take a call from Putin until Moscow commits to a ceasefire.
Chronicle of US-Russian negotiations
on February 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Assistant Prime Minister Yuri Ushakov met in Saudi Arabia with an American delegation, represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Volz, and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
After the talks, the US State Department reported that the delegations agreed to “eliminate irritants” in bilateral relations and continue to work on preparing talks on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The parties also agreed to appoint high-level groups for further negotiations on Ukraine.
The media reported that the US and Russia discussed a three-stage peace plan for Ukraine, which consists of the following stages:
- A ceasefire.
- Holding elections in Ukraine.
- Conclusion of a peace agreement.
on February 27, negotiations between the Americans and Russians continued in Istanbul. According to the Russian side, they discussed the normalization of diplomatic relations. The Kremlin also allegedly demanded the return of 6 properties that had been seized from Russians in the United States in 2016-2018, and also proposed to resume air travel.
on March 13, Putin met in Moscow with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. The parties have not yet made any statements about the results of this meeting, except for the words of Trump’s national security adviser Mike Volz that there are grounds for cautious optimism.
on March 25, the US agreed with Ukraine and Russia to ban attacks in the Black Sea.
