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4-hour talk between Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin: focus on Ukraine and new sanctions in sight

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The meeting in St. Petersburg, behind closed doors, did not lead to a diplomatic breakthrough. The crisis in Ukraine remains at the center of negotiations

It was a fluid meeting, lasting four and a half hours and ending late in the evening, between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting took place behind closed doors in the presidential library in St. Petersburg, following a preliminary discussion with the Kremlin’s envoy for foreign investment, Kirill Dmitriev, who had been Witkoff’s guest in Washington last week.

A meager confirmation of the meeting came from the Kremlin, with the clarification that the talks focused on “several aspects of the agreement on Ukraine.” However, the Russian president’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had previously put his hands out, explaining that no major diplomatic breakthroughs were expected from the discussion. Peskov also responded in probabilistic tones to those who asked him whether a summit between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump was a possibility. The prospect of a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders appears to be increasingly distant, given the stalemate in negotiations over the war in Ukraine, which continues to raise difficulties in reaching a truce.

Axios sources, quoted by sources close to the White House, suggest that the impasse over attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure could prompt the Trump administration to adopt new sanctions against Russia. A measure that could pass directly from the president or be approved by parliamentarians if a negotiated settlement is not reached by the end of the month.

In parallel, a new prisoner exchange occurred on the eve of the talks between Witkoff and Putin, with the return to the United States of Krenia Larina, a citizen with dual Russian and American passports who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a donation to a Ukrainian NGO. Arthur Petrov, arrested in Cyprus in 2023 for illegally exporting microelectronic components to Russia, was also released.

During his meeting with Dmitriev in Washington, Witkoff reportedly brought forward the Russian idea of a quick solution to the crisis, which includes Ukraine’s recognition of Russian sovereignty over the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, annexed in 2022. However, according to White House sources, the proposal was firmly rejected by Kiev, with reactions described as harsh, a point that will continue to hinder any progress in negotiations.

Yesterday’s meeting thus reaffirmed the difficulty of finding a concrete diplomatic solution, while tensions continue to rise as further developments await.

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