“After Donald Trump’s abrupt turn, who earlier this week imposed sanctions against ‘Rosneft’ and ‘Lukoil’, as well as canceled the summit with putin in Budapest, the kremlin urgently sent to the U.S. its key negotiator on Ukraine”, - the Telegram channel “The Moscow Times” reported on October 24, citing CNN.
It is noted that the head of the russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, who had established connections with Trump during his first presidential term, has arrived in Washington.
Dmitriev, who is close to putin through family ties and is married to a close friend of his younger daughter, Yekaterina Tikhonova, will hold talks with Trump administration officials to “continue discussions on russian-American relations”, a CNN source said.
The 49-year-old Dmitriev, a Harvard and Stanford graduate, faces a difficult task — to save relations with the American administration, which have sunk after putin refused to cease fire in Ukraine.
After negotiations that had continued since winter, Trump concluded that putin was simply stringing him along, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing administration sources. Trump’s frustration peaked when he realized that every one of his conversations with putin was followed by new strikes on Ukrainian cities.
As reported earlier, Trump became even more disappointed in putin and imposed sanctions after Rubio’s unproductive conversation with Lavrov.