Conversational charm: why did Putin's special envoy Dmitriev fly to Washington

Russia and the United States have moved one step further on the negotiating track. Russian Presidential Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev visited Washington on April 2-3, where he held meetings with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and other representatives of the American administration. This is the first visit of a senior Russian official to Washington since 2022. The second meeting of the Russian and US delegations in Istanbul on the normalization of diplomatic relations is also being worked out. At the same time, despite the ongoing dialogue between Moscow and Washington, Brussels and Kiev continue to sabotage the settlement of the conflict. Who else is resisting Russian-American normalization is in the Izvestia article.

Results of Kirill Dmitriev's visit to Washington

Kirill Dmitriev, the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation, visited the United States on April 2-3. This is the first visit of a senior Russian official to Washington since 2022. The talks, conducted on behalf of Vladimir Putin, included meetings with key figures of the American administration, including Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.

The visit of the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund took place against the background of preparations for the second meeting of the Russian and American delegations to normalize bilateral relations. The first one was held in Istanbul on February 27.

Moscow and Washington have already achieved "some success in eliminating bilateral irritants," but there are no significant breakthroughs yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said yesterday. According to him, the work is focused on simplifying the visa process, improving the mechanisms of mutual travel and resolving issues of financial transfers for diplomatic institutions.

An important signal for some normalization of relations was the fact that Russia was not on the list of countries against which the United States imposes customs duties. In addition, according to Roscongress, companies from the United States have already submitted applications for participation in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in 2025. This indicates a glimmer of American business interest in resuming economic ties, despite the remaining sanctions barriers.

One of the key issues on the agenda of the Russian-American negotiations remains the reanimation of the Black Sea Initiative, suspended in the summer of 2023. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the previous agreement "was implemented in the part that concerned Ukraine," but was not implemented in relation to Russia.

Now we are talking about the resumption of the agreement, which is slowing down the EU — Brussels does not intend to lift sanctions from the Rosselkhoznadzor and reconnect it to the SWIFT international payment system, and this is a crucial condition for the implementation of the initiative.

— The sanctions issue may be discussed in the very near future. So far, the situation with the lifting of restrictions is difficult, but if at least some of the Western restrictions are lifted, then this is already significant progress," Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia.

There are alternative options for implementing the initiative in case of difficulties with lifting sanctions. It is possible to renegotiate the terms of the deal, for example, to find another bank to carry out export operations or to involve intermediary structures that will legally assume responsibility for the cargo already in Russia, Ivan Loshkarev, associate professor of the Department of Political Theory at MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Candidate of Political Sciences, said in an interview with Izvestia.

Thus, Dmitriev's visit can be described as a continuation of negotiations on the financial and economic bloc, as well as consultations that began in Riyadh on March 24, which were attended by Russian Senator Grigory Karasin and adviser to the head of the FSB Sergey Beseda. It was then that the parties laid the foundation for a possible resumption of the Black Sea Initiative.

An equally significant point of the negotiation track was the discussion of the agreements reached by Putin and Trump following two telephone conversations on February 12 and March 18. The leaders agreed on a 30-day ban on attacks on energy facilities in Russia and Ukraine, with the possibility of extension. So far, Ukraine has not complied with its obligations.

Against this background, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov handed Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz a list of violations of the truce by Ukraine, and Sergey Lavrov stressed that Moscow was waiting "not for promises, but for concrete actions." Although Donald Trump noted the day before that Russia and Ukraine are "cooperating well" with the United States on the issue of conflict resolution, many details of this cooperation remain outside public statements.

Who is obstructing the dialogue between Russia and the United States

Despite the progress in the Russian-American dialogue, external and internal forces continue to sabotage the settlement process. Ukraine, the EU, and even individual groups within the United States are forming barriers to normalization. Kirill Dmitriev, during a trip to Washington, said that "numerous forces interested in maintaining tension" stand in the way of restoring dialogue between Moscow and Washington. The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund drew attention to the fact that they deliberately distort the position of the Russian Federation and try to disrupt any steps towards cooperation, "sparing neither money nor resources for this."

In particular, the Ukrainian leadership, according to experts, sees the negotiations as a threat primarily to its political positions. President Volodymyr Zelensky, declaring the possibility of a "complete truce in the coming weeks or months," simultaneously organizes meetings with military representatives of countries ready to deploy troops on Ukrainian territory.

"We will see some clarifications and some details. It is important that it will be based on the prepared proposals of the Ukrainian side," Zelensky said, This only demonstrates Kiev's desire to maintain a belligerent narrative that is trying and will continue to try to sabotage the negotiation process, Ivan Loshkarev believes.

— For the current Ukrainian leadership, this is a way to retain power, while advancing in negotiations increases the likelihood of losing it. However, the constant violations of the truce are unlikely to change the overall policy direction of the Trump administration, as it has already spent a lot of resources on this, including image. Against this background, public and non—public pressure on Kiev will grow, but there is still room for maneuver between Washington and Brussels as external sponsors of the Ukrainian side, and attempts at sabotage will continue, Ivan Loshkarev told Izvestia.

Progress in the Ukrainian settlement by the forces of the Russian Federation and the United States, of course, causes rare calls for dialogue from the European Union. For example, Finnish President Alexander Stubb suggested that France or Britain enter into negotiations with Vladimir Putin. Slovakia and Hungary have traditionally advocated an early resolution of the conflict.

But in general, the rhetoric of the EU and NATO is still quite belligerent. Welcoming U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, North Atlantic Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte expressed confidence that the alliance's assistance would allow Ukraine to fight "as long as necessary." Rubio also voiced the United States' intention to require NATO countries to increase military spending to 5% of GDP, which only reinforces the militaristic trend.

Within the United States, the resistance comes from the anti-Russian lobby. Despite the change of administration, some government officials, even from the Republican Party, are still opposed to dialogue with the Russian side.

— Democratic Senator Adam Schiff is very visible. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham hasn't gone anywhere either. There are no major changes in the Council on Foreign Relations. This series of influential players can be continued. No one disappeared anywhere, even after changing their main place of work. Maybe the tone of the statements has softened a little, but in general, there are no radical changes. It is naive to expect a full—fledged "detente" until Americans have a sense of the value of normal relations with Russia or a real fear of Russia as an equal," Mikhail Mironyuk, associate professor at the Department of Politics and Management at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, shared his opinion with Izvestia.

Dmitriev's visit to Washington confirmed that the dialogue between the Russian Federation and the United States remains, but its effectiveness is limited by external players and internal resistance. While Brussels and Kiev will sabotage the implementation of the agreements, and the American hawks will block normalization, it is premature to talk about full—fledged normalization. However, the very fact of negotiations leaves room for cautious optimism.