MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump instructed Russia to “get moving” during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Friday in St. Petersburg with Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, over the pursuit of a peace agreement on Ukraine. At the beginning of the negotiations, Putin welcomed Witkoff in the presidential library in St. Petersburg on state television. The news organisation Izvestia previously made public a video showing Witkoff leaving a local hotel with Putin’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Amid discussions on the Russian side about possible collaborative investments in the Arctic and Russian rare earth resources, Witkoff has become a pivotal figure in the sporadic thaw between Moscow and Washington.
The discussions take place at a time when US-Russian negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement before a potential peace agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine seem to have stagnated due to differences over what constitutes a complete halt in hostilities.
Trump, who appears to be growing impatient, has threatened to impose secondary sanctions on nations that purchase Russian oil if he believes Moscow is taking too long to reach an agreement on Ukraine.
In a post on Truth Social on Friday, he stated: “Russia needs to move. A horrific and pointless conflict that should never have happened and wouldn’t have happened if I were president is killing thousands of people every week.
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