MOSCOW
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff began their meeting in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, with the Ukraine conflict, energy supplies and prospects for restoring economic cooperation discussed in opening remarks.
The meeting took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace, with Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Putin’s special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, also in attendance.
Opening the meeting, Putin said Russia was interested in restoring economic cooperation with the US and was ready to supply larger quantities of fertilizers to the US market.
“I think it would be interesting for both sides to discuss issues related to our plans for restoring bilateral relations, Russian-American contacts, including in the sphere of economic cooperation,” he said.
“As for the farmers, I know President Trump even mentioned this in our telephone conversations, we could also supply fertilizers, in large quantities moreover, to the American market.”
He said diesel prices had fallen by 5-6% following the Russian-US agreement on diesel supplies.
“As for diesel, after both sides announced that there would be supplies to the US, prices for diesel on world markets immediately fell by 5-6%. We are preparing shipments, several vessels right now, tankers. The first tanker will leave in two or three days, 40,000 tons, and they will go one after another,” he said.
Putin noted that it was important to ensure “the financial component” of the deliveries, “so that everything works.”
The Russian leader said he was interested in Trump’s assessment of the situation surrounding Iran, and that Russia was ready to help resolve the conflict.
“You know that we have special, trusting relations with Iran, with our partners in Iran, our friends, because they have been built up over decades, and if we can do at least something to resolve this crisis, we will gladly do it. Our proposals in this area are also well known to you,” he said.
Putin added that Trump emphasized the need to end the Ukraine conflict during their latest telephone conversation in order to stop further loss of life.
“I know that President Trump pays special attention to this, primarily for humanitarian reasons, and in conversations, including the last telephone conversation, he emphasized the need to end this conflict, bearing in mind above all the losses among personnel on both sides,” he said.
Witkoff described Tuesday’s talks on Ukraine in Oslo as “productive,” saying progress had been made.
“I believe the negotiations were productive, and I would like to say that there is progress forward, and I will inform you about it. I hope that we have indeed created the necessary groundwork to successfully reach a ceasefire in this Ukrainian-Russian conflict,” he said.
Witkoff also thanked Putin on behalf of Trump for the agreement on diesel fuel supplies.
The US envoy expressed hope that Putin would consider resuming trilateral negotiations involving Russia, the US and Ukraine, where technical issues could be discussed.
“I also hope that you will consider the possibility of resuming trilateral negotiations with the participation of Ukraine, Russia and the US, within which we could discuss the next steps toward achieving a settlement. These could be representatives of technical expert groups who would discuss these issues in detail,” he said.
Witkoff said his delegation brought some documents that “set out certain approaches to achieving a peaceful settlement in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.”
“I would ask you, Mr. president, to consider and review these documents a little later. But I would also like to soon connect Mr. Kushner by phone, who would also like to set out a few ideas for you,” he said.
