Dialogue between Moscow and Washington is of the utmost importance for the entire world, Kirill Dmitriev has said

Russian President Vladimir Putin's economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, has said that he has arrived in Washington to hold negotiations with US officials.

Dmitriev has become the highest-ranking Russian official to visit the US since the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. The trip comes amid ongoing efforts between the Kremlin and the White House to find a diplomatic solution.

According to earlier reports in the US media, Putin's special economic representative was expected to meet with US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, who oversees the administrations' contacts with Russia.

In a post on Telegram on Thursday, Dmitriev confirmed that he has been "holding meetings in Washington with representatives of the Trump administration" on Wednesday and Thursday at the behest of the Russian president. He promised to provide further comments once the negotiations have concluded.

"Dialogue between Russia and the US, which is of the utmost importance for the entire world, has been completely destroyed under the previous administration of US President Joe Biden," he wrote.

Dmitriev, who heads Russia's sovereign wealth fund, stressed that "numerous forces" in many countries are now vying to derail the efforts being made by Moscow and Washington to restore relations.

"The opponents of rapprochement are afraid that Russia and the US will find common ground, begin to better understand each other and build cooperation, both in international affairs and in the economy," he said.

Putin's envoy acknowledged that "restoring dialogue is a difficult and gradual process," but stressed that "each meeting, each frank conversation allows us to move forward."

"A real understanding of the Russian position [by the US] opens up new opportunities for constructive interaction, including in the investment and economic areas," he said.

Dmitriev was among the officials who took part in last month's Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia, where both sides decided to begin normalizing relations. Since then, Moscow and Washington have worked on a potential diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine conflict, agreeing to a 30-day pause on strikes against infrastructure and expressing their readiness to take steps towards reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Russia since then has accused Ukraine of repeatedly violating the truce, claiming that facilities covered under the agreement are being attacked by Kiev's drones on a daily basis.

Moscow maintains that any settlement must account for the situation on the ground and address the conflict's root causes, including NATO expansion, and would necessitate Ukraine's neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification.

(RT.com)