Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US President's Special Envoy Steven Witkoff held a meeting in the St. Petersburg Presidential Library building, which lasted more than four hours.
The conversation was held behind closed doors and ended around 9:00 p.m. Bulgarian time, and the main topic was the situation in Ukraine.
This was already the third meeting between Putin and Witkoff, the first two of which were held in Moscow.
After it ended, Witkoff told US leader Donald Trump that recognizing Russia's control over the territories of the so-called DPR, LPR, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia regions is a way to resolve the conflict in Ukraine as quickly as possible, Reuters reported, citing its sources.
After a meeting with the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and special representative of the Russian president for economic cooperation with foreign countries Kirill Dmitriev in Washington, Witkoff also reported to Trump that the “fastest way“ to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine is to recognize the status of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions as regions of Russia. As Reuters notes, after the meeting with Witkoff, Trump “did not make a decision to change the US strategy”.
At the same time, the US President's special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who also attended the meeting, according to Reuters, disagrees with Witkoff. According to the agency, he believes that although Kiev is “ready for negotiations” on this issue, “will never agree“ to recognize Moscow's full control over these territories.
Moscow declared the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson to be part of Russia following the results of the referendums held there from September 23 to 27, 2022. Earlier, the same thing happened with Crimea and Sevastopol following a referendum held in March 2014.
In June 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Moscow was ready for a resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, which includes recognizing the status of Crimea, Sevastopol, DPR, LPR and Kherson and Zaporizhia regions as subjects of Russia.
Kirill Dmitriev called the negotiations with the US President's special envoy Stephen Witkoff productive.
“Welcome to St. Petersburg, Russia! Productive discussions with Steven Witkoff“, Dmitriev wrote in X.
The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund accompanied Witkoff on a tour of the city - Trump's special representative visited St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Great Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg.
Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov earlier noted that the meeting would discuss "various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement". The Kremlin hoped that this would be an opportunity to convey "the main elements of Russia's position and its main concerns" to US President Donald Trump.
Witkoff's plane took off from St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport at around 22:00 Bulgarian time, passing through the airspace of the Baltic states.