Putin is ready to meet Witkoff, Kushner again, Lavrov says

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet U.S. envoys if they travel to Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday, stressing that what matters is what proposals they bring with them.

In an interview with the Russian public broadcaster, Lavrov was asked whether U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff or President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, could influence the U.S. president.

The Russian FM said he assumed that if the envoys had been entrusted with such a role, “they have influence over the U.S. president, and he trusts them.”

“We are not refusing to talk to them, and if they come, they know that President Putin is ready to receive them again,” Lavrov said. “The question is, what will they bring?”

His remarks came amid reports that Witkoff and Kushner could visit Moscow and the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the coming days.

The minister recalled Witkoff’s previous visit a year ago, when he had conveyed the U.S. president’s proposals to the Russian side.

“Russian President Putin took them under consideration and, arriving in Alaska, said: ‘Donald, you sent us proposals, and I have thought them over. There are things that require compromise. But I accept your proposals in the form in which you sent them to me,’” Lavrov said.

He added that this was followed by a pause, after which the United States imposed sanctions on Russian companies Lukoil and Rosneft.

Lavrov also said that following the Alaska summit, the leaders of the European Union and NATO, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, traveled to Washington. According to Russia’s foreign minister, their goal was to persuade Trump to abandon further initiatives aimed at reaching a settlement.