Moscow, Dec 2 (IANS) Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has announced that US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steven Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will represent American delegation during their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled to be held later on Tuesday.
“The Russian-American meeting will begin after 5:00 PM Moscow time. Putin will meet with Mr. Witkoff, the chief American negotiator on Ukrainian affairs, who will be arriving in the Kremlin. Kushner will also be with him. A conversation will take place,” Russian state-run news agency TASS quoted Peskov as saying.
When asked whether anyone else would be present from the US side during the meeting, he responded, “No, there will be no more [American representatives]. Just a translator.”
The main issue that will be discussed during the meeting will be to resolve the Ukraine crisis, including US proposals on the matter.
A US-proposed 28-point ‘peace plan’ was unveiled two weeks ago. Following its release, representatives from the United States, Ukraine and several European countries met in Geneva on November 23 to discuss the plan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff held talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Hallandale Beach, Florida on Sunday.
On November 27, Putin said that the US-proposed list of points on Ukraine could form a basis for future agreements.
“It would be impolite of me to talk about any final options now, since there are none. But some things are fundamental,” the Russian President said at a press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
As Putin noted, the US side has in some ways taken into account the position of Russia, which was discussed before and after the August meeting between Putin and Trump in the US state of Alaska.
“Somewhere we definitely need to sit down and seriously discuss some specific things,” Putin said.
“We need to put everything into diplomatic language because it’s one thing to state in general terms that Russia does not plan to attack Europe. Frankly, that sounds ridiculous. We never had any intention of doing that,” he said.
Putin added that the US-proposed 28-point peace plan was communicated to the Russian side through appropriate channels, and the Russian side has seen it.
Following the release of the peace plan, representatives from the United States, Ukraine and several European countries met in Geneva on November 23 to discuss the plan.
Through discussions, the plan has been cut down to 19 points but has not been made public, marking the latest shift in the ongoing diplomatic push to end the Ukraine crisis.
