Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev made a calculated move last week by posting an image of his flight plan on social media, highlighting the presence of a senior sanctioned Russian official at the White House during meetings with US officials. The meeting aimed to appease Donald Trump, who has expressed anger over the status of a US-mediated “ceasefire” in Ukraine.
Dmitriev, born in Kyiv and educated at Stanford and Harvard Business School, is Putin’s closest inner circle member tasked with keeping Trump onside amidst ongoing tensions. He recently claimed that maintaining tension is the fault of everyone but Russia, shifting the blame to Ukraine and European allies.
The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, described Putin as “obfuscating” and continuing to bombard Ukraine, sparking a widening consensus that the Trump-mediated ceasefire has deflated rapidly. Experts warn that the commitments in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, were vague and lacked a mechanism to verify and enforce a truce.
Orysia Lutfeyeva, an expert, stated that Russia’s offer to America is “stop wasting money on a war Ukraine can’t win so let’s make money together.” The US has not approached these talks from the point of view of being verifiable or implementable. Trump remains more interested in courting Russia than pursuing an equitable and lasting peace.
The Institute for the Study of War noted Dmitriev’s comments suggesting that economic cooperation with the US should only begin after peace negotiations, which seems like a familiar tactic used by Russian officials during negotiations in Minsk and Syria.
Richard Haass described the biggest question remaining as US policy. The Trump administration has been skewed toward offering benefits to Russia while bringing pressure on Ukraine. So far, there has been little evidence suggesting urgency or a desire to act from either side, leaving the war unresolved.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/06/there-is-no-ceasefire-attacks-are-ongoing-how-putins-envoy-played-us-over-ukraine