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- There are such parties: deputies of four key factions of the State Duma will go to the United States.
There are such parties: deputies of four key factions of the State Duma will go to the United States.
The State Duma is preparing for a meeting with American congressmen in the United States. The delegation has already been formed: it should include representatives of at least four parliamentary parties and several committees, Izvestia found out. The Russian side, in particular, will raise the issue of lifting the sanctions imposed on deputies and congressmen in 2022. All State Duma committees are interested in dialogue, therefore, sports, culture and education issues can also be discussed at the meeting. At the same time, the upcoming dialogue with Moscow further highlights the growing differences in Congress in the run-up to the American elections. What else the parliamentarians will talk about and whether this will help bring the contacts between the two countries to a new level is in the Izvestia article.
What issues will the parliamentarians of the Russian Federation and the United States discuss?
A potential meeting between Russian deputies and American congressmen has been discussed since October 2025. However, it began to take on concrete outlines only with the onset of 2026. In January, Republican member of the House of Representatives Anna Paulina Luna announced the invitation of four State Duma deputies to Washington. However, it was not possible to hold a meeting promptly, probably due to the sanctions imposed on a number of Russian lawmakers. On February 10, the congresswoman said that there was a common understanding about the place and the meeting, it remains to wait for permission to issue visas from the State Department.
Anna Paulina Luna
The State Duma confirmed that the meeting would indeed take place in the United States, and the composition of the Russian delegation, including its head, had already been approved. According to the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexei Chepa, it included representatives of various committees and parties — at least four).
— The majority of [deputies] are from the International Affairs committee, but there will also be representatives of other committees. The largest number of representatives will be from United Russia. But on international issues, in our Duma there is no difference between the parties in their approaches to goals and objectives. The president determines all foreign policy activities in our country," the parliamentarian told Izvestia.
He added that all State Duma committees are interested in the meeting, if it does take place. The same information was confirmed by Dmitry Novikov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
"As for the committees, they won't be just representatives of one committee or one party," he told Izvestia.
In his opinion, four parties will represent the Russian Federation at the meeting - the smallest faction of the New People State Duma may not get in. Izvestia asked its representatives to comment on their participation in the event.
The main issue at the talks is likely to be the creation of political conditions for further contacts in the economy, sports, culture and other areas. It seems impossible to discuss specific economic projects until it is possible to achieve normalization of diplomatic relations, including the restoration of direct flights between the countries and the work of consulates, Dmitry Novikov says.
— At such a meeting, only the willingness or unwillingness of Russian and American parliamentarians to lobby for climate improvement can be heard. It is unlikely that any of the large companies will offer projects in the portfolio of this delegation before these issues are resolved," he believes.
The first step towards improving the political climate may be the lifting of sanctions against both Russian parliamentarians and American congressmen. In March 2022, the United States blacklisted 328 State Duma deputies, and Russia responded by imposing restrictions on 398 members of the House of Representatives. This topic will be one of the priorities at the upcoming meeting, says Alexey Chepa.
— We will raise this issue [lifting sanctions from deputies], of course. I think this will be exactly the mechanism that will allow us to discuss a large number of numerous issues in the future," he explained.
If contacts at the parliamentary level become systematic, then other topics for discussion will appear in the future, the MP added. Today, Russia and the United States have accumulated a lot of them. These may include, for example, joint projects in the Arctic, including the Northern Sea Route, the extraction of rare earth metals, as well as non-economic issues such as sports and science, Alexei Chepa argues.
At any meeting with foreign colleagues, Russia, apart from economics and politics, always discusses projects in sports, education, culture and the environment, Svetlana Zhurova, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and Olympic champion, told Izvestia.
— I think that [they can discuss] a football, hockey match, Olympic events [the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles], the [2026 FIFA World Cup]. We have extensive experience in carrying out and using legacy sports facilities in the future. Here we can share our experience," the parliamentarian explained.
In March 2025, in a conversation with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump supported his idea of organizing hockey matches in Russia and the United States between Russian and American players playing in the NHL and KHL.
The focus may be on issues that the Congress and the State Duma are dealing with, Andrei Kortunov, an expert at the Valdai Club, said in a conversation with Izvestia. For example, the meeting participants can discuss the details of full-fledged arms control treaties that could replace START 3, since in the future such agreements will have to go through the ratification process in Congress and the Federal Assembly, respectively.
At the same time, the final composition of the Russian delegation will depend, of course, on who the State Department will eventually issue visas to.
— Someone may not be allowed in. This issue is currently being resolved," Alexey Chepa clarified.
The topic and the composition of the meeting were not discussed within the International Affairs committee, the deputies explained to Izvestia.
Interestingly, the upper house of parliament does not have information about the details of the upcoming meeting.
— I personally don't know anything about such an agreement. This is the first time the leadership of the Federation Council and the committee has heard about this," Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Grigory Karasin told Izvestia.
Who will participate in the meeting from the US side
On behalf of the Congress, Anna Paulina Luna remains the only one who publicly and consistently advocates the restoration and development of relations between Russia and the United States, including at the parliamentary level. She stressed that Moscow and Washington "are no longer in a state of cold war."
Obviously, not all US political forces in Congress will participate in the meeting. The main "backbone" will be made up of members of the Republican Party, and those who represent the isolationist MAGA faction, suggested American scholar Malek Dudakov in a conversation with Izvestia.
"At the same time, hawks and neoconservatives-the same Lindsey Graham and so on—will boycott this meeting," he said.
Recall that Graham (listed as a terrorist and extremist in the Russian Federation) has repeatedly advocated for an increase in armed supplies to Ukraine.
If some Republicans who follow Trump's course of restoring relations with Russia are interested in dialogue, the Democrats, on the contrary, oppose themselves to Trump, and therefore boycott the meeting, Andrei Kortunov believes. Indeed, the positions of the "blue" and "red" are very different in relation to Russia and Ukraine.
— Democrats support additional aid and restoration of aid to Ukraine. Donald Trump opposes this. Republicans are against this," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy emphasized in a conversation with Izvestia.
In April 2025, it was the members of the Democratic Party who drafted a bill proposing to impose new sanctions against Russia and allocate money to Ukraine. If possible, the Democrats are ready to ask Trump to send Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev, Democratic Party Senator Chris Koons told Izvestia.
"I think all the major allies that support Ukraine should send both long—range missiles and air defense systems," he said.
On the other hand, not all representatives of the Democratic Party lobby so fiercely for the hawkish position. A staunch Democrat, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi told Izvestia that she encourages Anna Paulina Luna's initiative.
— I support inter-parliamentary dialogues between all countries. We are conducting them with many countries, let's say, more actively than others. I think it's very valuable, and sometimes you can find common ground, even if you have two different systems," she said.
This situation is explained by the deep division within American society, including within Congress. The polarization of political forces and the confrontation between the "reds" and "blues" is escalating against the backdrop of the upcoming congressional elections. On November 3, 2026, Americans will have to choose 435 members of the House of Representatives, 35 senators, as well as 36 governors and other local officials. Traditionally, this is perceived in the United States as a test of the trust of the current administration.
The approval rating of US President Donald Trump remains at an anti-record high of 36%. 89% of Republicans support him, 25% of independent voters, and only 3% of Democrats, according to a Gallup poll.
Republicans are likely to lose their majority in the House of Representatives, and their advantage in the Senate will be reduced to almost zero, according to HSE analyst Egor Toropov. Thus, a split within the congress may complicate the circumstances of the parliamentarians' meeting. However, if the negotiations do take place, the Russian Federation and the United States will be able to expand the formats and levels of their contacts.
— This kind of dialogue at the legislative level contributes to the fact that many crisis issues will be resolved, — says Malek Dudakov.
Today, Russia and the United States are engaged in dialogue at various levels. Negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement remain one of the priorities, of course. The next meeting of the Russian Federation, the United States and Ukraine will be held on February 17-18 in Geneva, the Russian delegation will be headed by Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky.
Consultations on the elimination of "irritants" remain the most important format for improving bilateral relations. Last year, two such meetings were held in Istanbul, where Moscow and Washington discussed the restoration of the embassies and the establishment of direct flights. This was followed by contacts in closed mode and at a lower "working" level. It is expected that a new meeting will be held in the spring, which is likely to move these issues off the ground.
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