Head of the Russian Direct Funding Fund and Russian particular presidential envoy for financial cooperation with international international locations, Kirill Dmitriev, talks to U.S. President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff throughout a gathering in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on April 11, 2025.
Vyacheslav Prokofyev | By way of Reuters
U.S. officers and lawmakers are more and more involved a few assembly final month during which representatives of the Trump administration met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who’s below U.S. sanctions, to draft a plan to finish the warfare in Ukraine, based on a number of sources aware of the matter.
The assembly happened in Miami on the finish of October and included particular envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Dmitriev, who leads the Russian Direct Funding Fund (RDIF), one in all Russia’s largest sovereign wealth funds.
A detailed ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitriev has taken a number one position in talks with the U.S. concerning the warfare and has met with Witkoff a number of instances this 12 months. The Trump administration has issued a particular waiver to permit his entry, one senior U.S. official instructed Reuters.
Dmitriev and his fund have been blacklisted by the U.S. authorities in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions successfully bar Americans and corporations from coping with them.
The assembly resulted in a 28-point plan for ending the warfare, two individuals aware of the scenario stated. The plan, which was made public earlier this week by Axios, got here as a shock to U.S. officers in numerous corners of the administration and has stirred confusion at embassies all through Washington and in European capitals.
It has additionally prompted criticism from the Ukrainians and their allies for showing closely tilted towards Russian pursuits, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowing on Friday that he wouldn’t betray Ukraine’s pursuits.
The doc, which requires main concessions from Ukraine, seems to run counter to the harder stance the Trump administration has these days taken towards Moscow, together with with sanctions on its vitality sector.
It is unclear whether or not Dmitriev got here to the assembly in Miami with sure Russian calls for and whether or not these have been included into the peace plan.
Two individuals aware of the assembly stated Rustem Umerov, Secretary of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, was additionally in Miami early this week to debate the plan with Witkoff.
One supply aware of the scenario stated that Witkoff instructed Umerov concerning the plan throughout that go to and that the USA gave the plan to Ukraine by way of the Turkish authorities on Wednesday, earlier than immediately presenting it in Kyiv on Thursday.
Umerov has described his position as “technical” and denied that he mentioned the plan in substance with U.S. officers.
Dmitriev and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
White Home spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated in a press release that any peace plan “should supply safety ensures and deterrence for Ukraine, Europe and Russia” and supply financial incentives to each Ukraine and Russia.
“This plan was crafted to replicate the realities of the scenario, and to seek out the most effective win-win situation, the place each events achieve greater than they need to give,” she stated.
Trump stated on Friday that he anticipated Zelenskyy to signal onto the plan by the Thanksgiving vacation. The U.S. has warned Ukraine it may curb army help if it doesn’t signal, Reuters has reported.
In a night tackle on Friday evening, Zelenskyy introduced talks with Ukraine’s companions on steps to finish the warfare.
“Our representatives know shield Ukraine’s nationwide pursuits and what precisely is required to stop Russia from finishing up a 3rd invasion, one other blow to Ukraine,” he stated.
In separate remarks on Saturday, Trump stated that his proposal was not his remaining supply, signalling potential room for changes as Ukraine and its European allies burdened that the plan may function a basis for negotiations however required important modifications.
Some officers caught off guard
Many senior officers contained in the State Division and on the Nationwide Safety Council weren’t briefed, the 2 individuals aware of the plan stated. Particular Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who had been working with the Ukrainians on negotiating an finish to the warfare and plans to step down in January, was additionally lower out of the talks led by Witkoff and Dmitriev, they stated.
One senior U.S. official stated Secretary of State Marco Rubio was learn in on the 28-point plan, however did not make clear when he was briefed.
“Secretary Rubio has been intently concerned all through the complete strategy of growing a plan to finish the warfare in Ukraine. Any insinuation in any other case is totally false. That features talking with each side of this battle – many instances – to facilitate the…trade of concepts to determine a sturdy peace,” stated State Division Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott in a press release.
Some U.S. officers and others consulted by Reuters disputed that characterization, with one official saying the plan incorporates materials that the secretary of state has beforehand rejected.
The scenario has sparked worries contained in the administration and on Capitol Hill that Witkoff and Kushner skirted the interagency course of and that the discussions with Dmitriev have resulted in a plan that favors Russian pursuits.
It contains calls for that Russia has beforehand made — that Ukraine quit a few of its territory within the japanese a part of the nation that it nonetheless controls, acknowledge Crimea as Russian and pledge to not be part of NATO.
“This so-called ‘peace plan’ has actual issues, and I’m extremely skeptical it can obtain peace,” stated Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Companies Committee. “Ukraine shouldn’t be compelled to surrender its lands to one of many world’s most flagrant warfare criminals in Vladimir Putin.”
Issues about Dmitriev
The administration’s discussions with Dmitriev have additionally anxious some contained in the intelligence neighborhood, one U.S. official aware of the matter stated.
Dmitriev has beforehand used his position at RDIF to make inroads with numerous Western governments and companies, even amid American sanctions.
The CIA declined to remark about issues throughout the intelligence neighborhood about Dmitriev.
Throughout the first Trump administration, Dmitriev established contacts with the president’s group to reset relations between Washington and Moscow.
In a 2017 assembly with Erik Prince, the previous CEO of Blackwater and a Trump ally, Dmitriev mentioned U.S.-Russia relations, based on a Division of Justice report revealed by Particular Counsel Robert Mueller in 2019. Mueller’s group was investigating ties between the Trump group and Russia.
In a separate assembly with a buddy of Kushner’s, Dmitriev drafted a reconciliation plan to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Russia, the report says.
The Mueller group stated in its report that it didn’t set up that the Trump marketing campaign coordinated with the Russians to affect the 2016 election.
Dmitriev additionally labored immediately with Kushner throughout the first administration. Throughout the pandemic, Dmitriev coordinated with Kushner on the supply of ventilators to the U.S. The ventilators have been offered by RDIF and brought about concern amongst officers on the Treasury Division that the U.S. could be violating its personal sanctions, based on a senior U.S. official.
In recent times, Dmitriev has appeared on numerous American tv stations and at occasions just like the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, to advertise the strengthening of commerce ties between the U.S. and Russia.
He pushed the same message on the assembly in Miami, based on public readouts of the assembly.
His go to additionally included a sit-down with U.S. Consultant Anna Luna, a Florida Republican. Within the assembly, Dmitriev and Luna spoke about growing commerce ties between the U.S. and Russia. Rep. Luna’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The assembly between the 2 was set earlier within the month amid statements by Luna that she had acquired Russia’s JFK recordsdata.
In a video by RIA, one in all Russia’s state information companies, Luna is seen accepting a field of candies with Putin’s face inscribed on the entrance.
The photographs seem to indicate Luna and Dmitriev in a convention room on the Faena Resort in Miami.
The Faena Resort is owned by Entry Industries, an organization run by Len Blavatnik, based on the corporate’s web site. Blavatnik, who was born in Ukraine and is a twin U.S-UK nationwide, initially earned his cash partnering with Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire sanctioned by the U.S. for his ties to Putin.
Blavatnik totally divested from all Russian property following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, based on his spokesperson.
Witkoff’s firm, the Witkoff Group, does enterprise with Blavatnik, together with in Miami.