A Kremlin envoy announced on Thursday that he met with representatives of the Trump administration in Washington, marking the first known visit by a senior Russian official to the United States in years.
The envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and serves as President Vladimir V. Putin’s special representative for investment and economic cooperation. He communicated via the Telegram messaging app that he had met with “representatives of the administration of President Donald Trump” on Wednesday and planned to meet again on Thursday.
No immediate response was provided by the Trump administration regarding Mr. Dmitriev’s announcement.
Mr. Dmitriev’s visit occurred despite sanctions imposed by the Biden administration, which labeled him “a known Putin ally.” It also coincided with President Trump’s decision to exclude Russia from a list of countries subject to recently announced steep tariffs.
While Mr. Dmitriev did not disclose the identities of those he met, his primary American counterpart in recent weeks has been Steve Witkoff, a close associate of Mr. Trump who serves as the White House envoy for the Middle East and Russia.
Mr. Dmitriev, a 49-year-old former banker with educational credentials from Stanford and Harvard and experience at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs, has become an important intermediary in the Kremlin’s efforts to foster relations with Mr. Trump.
His approach has been to emphasize the potential economic benefits for the United States in establishing closer ties with Russia.
In February, Mr. Dmitriev collaborated with Mr. Witkoff to facilitate a prisoner exchange that resulted in the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher imprisoned in Moscow.
During subsequent talks in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Dmitriev asserted that U.S. companies had faced $324 billion in losses after withdrawing from Russia following Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In his social media post, Mr. Dmitriev stated that his meetings aimed to restore U.S.-Russian dialogue, which he claimed had been “completely destroyed under the Biden administration.” He suggested that the United States could benefit from cooperation in both international affairs and economic matters.
Mr. Dmitriev remarked, “A real understanding of the Russian position opens up new opportunities for constructive interaction, including in the investment and economic sphere.”
He did not address ongoing negotiations concerning the war in Ukraine between Moscow and Washington, which have reportedly stalled recently, with Mr. Putin rejecting proposals for a 30-day cease-fire.
Last weekend, Mr. Trump expressed frustration over Mr. Putin’s remarks regarding Ukraine, indicating that he might reconsider his efforts to restore relations with Russia.
Nonetheless, Mr. Dmitriev’s visit suggests that the Trump administration is actively working to reverse the Biden administration’s diplomatic isolation of Russia.
Additionally, in a sign of ongoing engagement between the United States and Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov stated that preparations are underway for a second round of talks aimed at facilitating the work of American and Russian diplomats in each other’s countries.
The initial meeting occurred in Istanbul on February 27, focusing on alleviating years of reciprocal restrictions that had severely limited the staffing of the American mission in Russia and the Russian mission in the United States.
Mr. Lavrov noted, “We can see signs of progress and our U.S. partners’ willingness to lift these obstacles to the normal work of diplomats in our respective capitals.”