MOSCOW, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev will travel to the Swiss resort of Davos this week and hold meetings with members of the U.S. delegation on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, two sources with knowledge of the visit told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov said on Sunday that talks with U.S. officials on a resolution of the nearly four-year-old war with Russia would continue at the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week.
Trump will attend this year’s annual meeting in person, after addressing the gathering by video link last year. He will be accompanied by a large U.S. delegation.
The Kremlin has said that it is preparing to welcome U.S. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to Moscow for peace talks on Ukraine, but that no dates have been set yet.
Dmitriev travelled to the U.S. in December and held two days of talks with Witkoff and Kushner. He briefed Putin after returning from the trip.
Witkoff and Kushner later met with officials from Ukraine and Europe, and then separately with the Ukrainian delegation, led Umerov. Witkoff called the talks “productive and constructive.”
Trump and Putin discussed the Ukraine war during a telephone call on December 29 that was described by the White House as “positive.”
In an interview with Reuters on January 14, Trump said that Ukraine, not Russia, is holding up a potential peace deal, in a statement that stands in marked contrast to that of the European leaders.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
