Steve Witkoff, former US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, arrived in Russia on Friday, fueling speculation of a possible meeting with President Vladimir Putin at a time when US tensions are running high with Iran and China.
The Kremlin confirmed Witkoff’s visit to St. Petersburg, where he was spotted departing a hotel with Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment ambassador. Although Russian officials would not confirm that Witkoff and Putin had a meeting, reports by Axios citing sources close to the visit showed that discussions between the two were imminent.
Witkoff has been at the forefront of efforts to re-launch US-Russia ties, particularly regarding any common investments in the Arctic and Russia’s rare earth industry. His visit is timely because the United States is dealing with rising tensions with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions as well as rising trade tensions with Beijing two of Moscow’s best friends.
President Putin too was in St. Petersburg on Friday for an urgent meeting concerned with the improvement of the Russian Navy, a component of Russia’s military modernization strategy on an ongoing basis.
Witkoff is set to make a trip to Oman on Saturday to meet Iranian officials, a day after President Trump threatened using military force in case Tehran did not accept a new nuclear deal.
Earlier this week, US and Russian diplomats sat down in Istanbul to talk about returning to normal operations for their respective embassies. Although some progress was made, negotiations on a possible Ukraine ceasefire are still stalled because of differences over conditions.
This would be the third time Putin and Witkoff have met this year. Their last meeting in February resulted in the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was listed as wrongfully detained by Washington.
The US remains aggressively advocating for the release of other American citizens jailed in Russia, such as Stephen Hubbard and dual citizen Ksenia Karelina, who was just swapped for a Russian suspected of smuggling military technology.