Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Aug. 6 after the Kremlin requested a meeting with him in a last-ditch effort to avoid the punishing new sanctions Trump has threatened to impose this week.
The aircraft used by Witkoff landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported amid news of the planned visit by Trump’s special envoy.
Witkoff is expected to meet Russian officials — potentially including President Vladimir Putin — as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.
Whether Putin can convince Witkoff, and by extension Trump, that he is serious about ending the conflict remains an open question. Trump has publicly cast doubt on Putin’s willingness to stop the fighting and appears wary of being strung along by a leader he now openly distrusts.
The Trump administration is also considering new sanctions on Russia’s so-called "shadow fleet" of oil tankers should President Vladimir Putin fail to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by Aug. 8, people familiar with White House discussions told the Financial Times.
Putin, meanwhile, has maintained his maximalist ambitions for the war, including seizing the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson (none of which Russia fully controls), as well as demanding that Ukraine limit the size of its military.
Witkoff, a close Trump ally with no prior diplomatic experience before joining the current administration, has been viewed as more sympathetic toward Moscow than many in Trump’s team. He has faced criticism in Ukraine and abroad for repeating Russian propaganda narratives. Last month, he reportedly pushed for the U.S. to lift energy sanctions on Russia.
Trump said a day ahead of Witkoff’s arrival that he would wait until the talks conclude to decide whether to impose new sanctions. "We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow. We’re going to see what happens," he said at the White House. "We’ll make that determination at that time."
When Witkoff lands in Moscow, the atmosphere will be markedly different from his last meeting with Putin in April, with Trump’s frustration toward the Russian leader mounting in recent months. Since that visit, Russia has resisted U.S.-led efforts to broker peace in Ukraine and has intensified missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.
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