The American deligation to Moscow spoke personally with Russian President Vladimir Putin about a Ukraine War ceasefire and the next step is a call directly between President Donald Trump and Putin, the Kremlin said.
A delegation of American negotiators arrived in Moscow, Russia for talks on the Ukraine War on Thursday. The exact itinerary for the visit was apparently unclear and it was not certain how far up the Kremlin food chain the delegation would end up going, but per remarks by a spokesman on Friday morning they did indeed speak to Russian President Putin directly.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian press on Friday that America’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff: “was received by President Putin late last night and provided additional information to Russia. Putin conveyed information and additional signals to President Trump via Witkoff”.
While the principles of a ceasefire have been agreed between the United States and Ukraine, getting Ukraine to agree is the next stage on President Trump’s “path to peace”. While Putin himself made broadly positive noises about the process on Thursday evening in response to the U.S. delegation’s visit, nevertheless his comments that there are specifics to be arranged underline that actually the Russian position remained unchanged from before the talks: that ‘peace’ is possible as long as it is on Moscow’s terms.
President Trump expressed his hope to speak personally to Putin on Thursday, and Russia reciprocated, saying a direct conversation — likely by telephone at this stage — between the two leads is the next logical step. Trump and Putin are last known to have spoken in early February, but no date for when this next call might take place has been settled.
The Putin spokesman said: “The exact time of the conversation between the two presidents has not yet been agreed upon. However, after Mr. Witkoff delivers all the details received in Moscow to his head of state, we will decide on the timing of the conversation… Both parties recognize that this dialogue is needed.”
