Russian President Vladimir Putin has concluded a meeting with US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, according to the Kremlin press service and Russian media.
According to reports, the meeting lasted around three hours. It took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St Petersburg; also present on the Russian side were Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov and his special representative for international economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev.
According to the Kremlin’s official statement, Putin thanked Witkoff for his help in ‘resolving the crisis’ in Ukraine – a reference to the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.
Witkoff, for his part, planned to brief the Russian president on “the talks that took place in Oslo”. He also thanked Putin for the release of the American Stephen Hubbard, who had been convicted in Russia on charges of mercenary activity.
Russian media also report Ushakov’s remarks, according to which Putin stated that Russia was prepared to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US in the first ten days of November. The main topic is to be the establishment of a security framework for Russia and Ukraine following the end of the war.
The Russian news agency Interfax reports that, following the meeting, Witkoff and Dmitriev left the Konstantinovsky Palace together.
The American negotiator, Witkoff, arrived in Russia from Oslo, where on 20 October he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European partners, in particular with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Støre.
The day before, Volodymyr Zelenskyy had announced that Steve Witkoff would present Russia with a proposal for trilateral talks involving the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and the United States.