Kremlin special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said Russia is in talks with members of Donald Trump’s administration team and stressed that any diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine must address Moscow’s interests.
"We'll be meeting with some members of the Trump administration team. I think it's very important we have dialogue because President Trump already has done a lot to solve lots of the world conflicts,” Dmitriev told Fox News on Oct. 25.
Dmitriev, head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, has been a key figure in the Kremlin’s backchannel outreach to Washington. He traveled to the U.S. in April and took part in talks in Alaska in August.
“For sure, a conflict in Ukraine will have a diplomatic solution. So we'll have a discussion how to move forward, how to make sure that Russian interests are taken into account, because only by taking Russian interests into account can the solution be found.”
He praised Trump for “avoiding escalation to World War III” and claimed that he “achieved the first ceasefire on heat and energy infrastructure that we've had.” He also said Trump “really understood Russian position.”
Dmitriev dismissed the impact of new U.S. sanctions, arguing that “no pressure works on Russia.”
“Frankly, we do not believe that these sanctions will have significant impact on the Russian economy because oil prices in the world will rise and Russia will sell just fewer gallons of oil at a higher price.”
He contrasted Trump’s approach with former President Joe Biden’s, saying, “Biden tried to unsuccessfully defeat Russia strategically. His approach of sanction didn’t work… Last year, Russian economy grew four percent, whereas European and U.K. economy grew less than one percent.”
Dmitriev also repeated Kremlin talking points about Ukraine’s neutrality and said that control over what he described as “territories with Russian population” must be resolved.
“There is definitely a territory issue where there is Russian population… and then there is the whole issue of neutrality of Ukraine, which is important for security of Russia,” Dmitriev said. “So really not that many issues on the table. And basically, by understanding how they can be resolved in a diplomatic manner, the solution can be found pretty shortly.”
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