Russian President Praises US Counterpart's Interest in Resolving the Ukrainian Crisis

Moscow, Oct 21 (KUNA) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s interest in reaching a settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, affirming Moscow’s readiness to resume economic cooperation with Washington. At the same time, U.S. President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff expressed hope that talks between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine would resume to discuss technical issues related to a settlement.

Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and Tass quoted Putin as saying during his meeting with Witkoff in the Russian city of St. Petersburg that Trump had stressed during their recent conversation the necessity of ending the conflict in Ukraine to halt human losses, noting Russia’s interest in restoring economic cooperation with the United States. Putin added that Moscow was interested in assessments concerning the Iranian crisis and affirmed Russia’s readiness to assist in its resolution. He also expressed Russia’s willingness to supply large quantities of fertilizer to the U.S. market.

For his part, Witkoff described the talks held in the Norwegian capital Oslo as fruitful, noting tangible progress and the existence of a foundation that could be built upon to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine. The U.S. envoy announced that he had brought documents containing proposed approaches to settling the Ukrainian conflict, expressing hope that Putin would consider the possibility of resuming talks between Moscow, Washington, and Kyiv to discuss technical matters linked to a settlement.

Witkoff thanked Putin on behalf of the U.S. president for the Russian decision regarding the diesel agreement and also thanked him for the release of U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard.

In the economic sphere, Putin said that prices in global markets had fallen by 5 to 6 percent following the Russian decision on diesel fuel, and he expressed his pleasure at meeting the U.S. envoy.

Attending the meeting from the Russian side were Russian Presidential Assistant Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

This was Witkoff’s ninth visit to Russia. Jared Kushner, the U.S. president’s son-in-law and a participant in mediation efforts, was unable to attend the meeting in St. Petersburg due to illness, according to media reports.

These diplomatic moves follow the Oslo talks, in which Witkoff participated alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European officials, as part of efforts to advance the political settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. (End) Dan / T.M.A