Victor Bout

🇺🇲 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 After the Putin meeting, Witkoff says a new round of talks is set with Europe included. The Kremlin answers with its 2021 demands on NATO Steve Witkoff left Moscow on Thursday claiming a win. "People didn't think that we were going to restart trilateral. We've restarted it. We've set a new meeting," Trump's envoy told CNN at Vnukovo Airport after about two and a half hours with Vladimir Putin, his tenth meeting with the Russian leader. He said European representatives would join the next round: "They're our partners, and it's important for them to be involved." No date or venue was announced. ⚠️ The Kremlin's readout, delivered hours later by Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, showed what Moscow means by talking about Europe. Ushakov said Putin backed the US idea of tying security for Russia and Ukraine to a "future post-conflict system of European security," and then listed Russia's starting points: the draft treaties it sent the US and NATO in 2021, before the full-scale invasion. Those include no further NATO expansion, no "threatening weapons systems" near Russia's borders, and a return of allied forces to where they stood when the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed. Ushakov said Moscow would add "new considerations" on top. On Europe's seat, the message was conditional. Europeans must decide "whether they want peace or the continuation of the war," Ushakov said, and plans for a coalition of the willing to deploy troops in Ukraine after the war are "the recipe for an endless war." Ushakov also said the US side "actively supported" Putin's offer of a humanitarian operation for Kostiantynivka, a Ukrainian-held stronghold in Donetsk that Putin claims Russia controls. Kyiv is wary. Ukraine's presidential office said Russia used a similar operation in occupied Oleshky to bring in military equipment and rotate troops, RFE/RL reported. Both sides backed a new prisoner exchange that Ushakov said would likely be the largest yet, with parameters still being finalized. ⚠️ The next stop is bigger. Ushakov said the full range of issues will be discussed when Putin meets Trump on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen, and spoke of a first-ever three-way summit there that Moscow describes as being organized by its Chinese hosts. Witkoff and Kushner flew on to Dublin to brief Volodymyr Zelensky. Why it matters: Washington wants a multilateral format and believes it has momentum. Moscow is using that format to put NATO's eastern flank back on the table. What the US envoys tell Zelensky and the Europeans tonight, and what Trump says in Shenzhen, will show how far Washington is willing to go down that road.

🚨🇷🇺🇺🇸Putin thanks Trump for facilitating Russia-Ukraine contacts during Kremlin meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was pleased to welcome US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow. Putin asked them to convey his gratitude to US President Donald Trump for organizing contacts between Russia and Ukraine. He also noted progress on the humanitarian track and said it was important for him to hear the US envoys' assessment of the recent talks in Abu Dhabi.

🇷🇺🇺🇸 US representatives arrive in Moscow to meet with President Putin, just a day after the Abu Dhabi peace talks. The US wants Russia to draw up what it considers a future European security. Ukraine losing territory has already been agreed upon. As Medinsky stated yesterday, it doesn't matter what Ukraine or EU wants, Russia will get it one way or another.

🇷🇺│ Medinsky: “We have not received a single peace initiative or peace proposal from European countries. Therefore, it is unclear what there is to discuss. If they came here as tourists, they can chat in the hotel lobby bar.” “The entire European security system needs to be treated. A band-aid won’t be enough.” “The world needs a fair security system that does not come at the expense of any country.” “Europeans are contributing to the mass deaths of civilians. They are also engaged in collectively deceiving the Ukrainian people.” “Russia and Ukraine have agreed on a large-scale prisoner exchange. The details will be announced soon.”

Jared Kushner: Steve Witkoff and I are going to travel to Moscow tomorrow to meet with Putin to go over what was discussed today. We see some openings and some opportunities.