The key facts
- Peskov: Trump is «sincere and consistent» in his desire to facilitate a peaceful settlement.
- On October 21, Putin met with Witkoff in St. Petersburg; the topic was ending the conflict in Ukraine.
- Witkoff hopes for the resumption of trilateral talks between Russia, the US and Ukraine; he previously consulted with Zelensky and the Europeans in Oslo.
The Kremlin's assessment
Press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, in a comment to the IS «Vesti» news service, stated that US President Donald Trump sincerely strives for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine and consistently adheres to his position. «We see that President Trump is quite sincere and consistent in his desire to facilitate a peaceful settlement and to put everything on the track of a peaceful settlement,» the Kremlin spokesman noted.
Meeting in St. Petersburg
The statement came against the backdrop of a new round of Russian-American contacts. On October 21, Vladimir Putin met in St. Petersburg with US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff. One of the main topics of the talks was a possible end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Trilateral talks initiative
According to Life.ru, Witkoff expressed hope for the resumption of trilateral talks between Russia, the US and Ukraine, putting forward such an initiative at the meeting with Putin on October 21. He expects the Russian leader to consider the possibility of returning to this format. Before traveling to Russia, the diplomat held consultations with Volodymyr Zelensky and European representatives in Oslo, where possible terms of a peace agreement, security guarantees for Kyiv and further diplomatic steps were discussed. The American side announced a certain progress in discussing these issues.
