Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and special representative of the Russian president for investment and economic co-operation with foreign countries, said he was meeting with representatives of the US administration in Washington.
Dmitriev’s words are quoted by Reuters. According to Putin’s representative, “resuming dialogue is a difficult and gradual process, but every meeting, every frank conversation allows us to move forward.”
Earlier it became known about Dmitriev’s meeting with US officials on 2 April. It follows from his words that the meetings will continue on 3 April.
CNN, which first reported on the Russian representative’s trip to Washington, claimed that Dmitriev would meet with Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the US president.
Steve Whitkoff, the Trump envoy who led the Trump administration’s contacts with the Kremlin, invited Dmitriev to the United States last week, U.S. officials said. The White House has instructed the State Department to issue Dmitriev a short-term security clearance, a necessary step because Dmitriev is under U.S. sanctions, the officials said.
Dmitriev could play a key role in repairing relations, which before Trump’s January inauguration were the worst between Moscow and Washington in history.
Dmitriev-a Stanford-educated former Goldman Sachs investment banker-is one of the most knowledgeable members of the Russian elite in the United States and has close ties to some key members of Trump’s team. He is the first Russian official to visit the US on state business since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
On 18 February, Dmitriev was part of a Russian delegation attending talks with a US delegation in the Saudi capital Riyadh. He reported that Moscow handed Washington several proposals for cooperation in the investment and economic sphere.