President Vladimir Putin will meet U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff for talks on Thursday, the Kremlin confirmed, coming just a day after the White House official met with the Kremlin leader’s economic envoy at Davos.
“Yes, indeed, there’s a meeting in the president's schedule for tomorrow,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RBK news outlet on Wednesday.
Witkoff said earlier he planned to leave for Moscow from the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday night alongside Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
U.S. President Donald Trump has tasked both officials with negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.
“Jared and I will leave Thursday night and arrive in Moscow late at night and then go over to the UAE afterwards for working groups,” Witkoff told Bloomberg TV in an interview.
Witkoff said the Kremlin had requested the meeting, which will mark his seventh trip to Russia since Trump took office last year, adding that he believed the two sides were close to reaching the final “10%” of a peace deal.
He said he would meet officials from the Ukrainian side later Wednesday.
Ukraine previously said it had agreed to “90%” of a deal, but key issues, including the thorny question of territory, remain unresolved.
Kyiv is also seeking clarity from its allies on post-war security guarantees, which it sees as key to deterring Russia from launching a new assault.
Witkoff and Kushner last met with Putin in December. The Kremlin at the time called the nearly five-hour meeting “useful” and “constructive.”
On Tuesday, the two Americans met with Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev, who also serves as Putin’s economic envoy. Witkoff described the meeting as “very positive.”
AFP contributed reporting.
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