Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is forming a team of people with decades of experience in diplomacy and intelligence services for possible negotiations with the Donald Trump administration to end the war against Ukraine. Bloomberg reports this with reference to its own sources, UNN reports.
The team includes the Kremlin's chief foreign policy advisor, 77-year-old Yuri Ushakov, who has worked in diplomacy for more than 50 years and served as Russia's ambassador to the United States in 1998-2008.
Also among the negotiators is the head of Russian foreign intelligence, 70-year-old Sergei Naryshkin, who has known Putin since his time in the Soviet KGB.
A key role in the negotiations could be played by financier Kirill Dmitriev, who studied at Stanford and Harvard, worked at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs, and now heads a Russian private equity fund.
According to sources, he may become an unofficial mediator between the Kremlin and the Trump team. dmitriev, who was born in Kyiv, has already helped in the recent negotiations for the release of American Mark Vogel from a Russian prison, which experts believe is a "goodwill gesture" before possible larger agreements.
"He has extensive experience in concluding deals with foreign business partners," said Andrey Sushentsov, dean of the MGIMO School of International Relations.
He also said that Ushakov knows the American establishment well and has a lot of influence in Moscow.
According to analysts, the Russian team may face difficulties due to the non-standard approaches of trump, who has repeatedly demonstrated unpredictable behavior and a willingness to deviate from traditional diplomacy. At the same time, the Kremlin, according to Bloomberg, hopes that Dmitriev will be able to "talk business" with representatives of the American president.
It is expected that other members of the team that led the unsuccessful peace talks with Ukraine in 2022 may join the negotiations.
Among them is presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who, like Dmitriev, was born in Ukraine and is known for his involvement in the development of propaganda textbooks for Russian schools.
Recall
U.S. Special Representative Keith Kellogg saidthat direct talks between Zelensky and Putin are necessary to resolve the conflict.
