A senior Kremlin official has downplayed the chances of rapid progress in peace talks to end Russia’s war against Ukraine amid meetings in Florida between U.S. and Russian envoys.
Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide, told reporters in Moscow on 21 December that Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev would simply return home and report to Putin.
“Americans are celebrating Christmas these days. Few will be working,” he said.
He also commented on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement that Washington had proposed trilateral talks.
“So far, no one has seriously discussed this initiative and, as far as I know, they are not working on it,” Ushakov said, adding that Dmitriev is holding talks only with US officials.
The talks in Florida come after a week of intense diplomatic activity during which US envoys met with European and Ukrainian officials.
In November, Trump began pressuring Kiev to accept a 28-point proposal that critics said tilted heavily in Russia’s favour. Ukraine and its European supporters came forward with their own amendments to protect Ukraine’s interests over territory, security guarantees for Kiev and other issues. The plan now reportedly has 20 points and takes more of Kiev’s interests into account.
“I am sure that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make certainly do not improve the document and do not increase the possibility of achieving long-term peace,” Ushakov said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on December 21 that a phone conversation between Putin and US President Donald Trump was not planned, “but it can be quickly organised if necessary”.
He added that Putin will meet with Alexander Lukashenko during diplomatic meetings in St Petersburg on 21-22 December.
Peskov said Putin will also hold meetings with the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan during the events.
Dmitriev said on 20 December after the first day of talks in Florida that Russia and the United States were having a “constructive conversation.”
The White House has not yet commented on the meeting.
Washington was scheduled to be represented by US envoy Steve Whitkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously said he might attend the talks, but details were not disclosed.
Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, about 110 kilometres north of Miami, but was not expected to attend the talks.
At the meeting, US representatives are expected to provide Moscow with the results of the latest round of talks with Ukraine and Europe.
Prior to the talks with Russia, the US side held a meeting with the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Rustem Umerov.
In recent weeks, the US has been trying again to reach a peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev.
The week-long talks resulted in a document that is more acceptable to Kiev, but there are several contentious issues, particularly regarding territory and security guarantees.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the issue of possible compromises on territorial issues in the peace plan should be decided by the Ukrainian people “in the format of elections or a referendum”. To this, the Kremlin said that “the entire Donbass is Russian”.
US President Donald Trump said the other day that an agreement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine is “closer than ever”.
On 18 December, he noted that he believed the talks were “getting closer to something”, but said that “Ukraine must act quickly” because “when they delay too long, Russia changes its mind”.