MOSCOW, April 10 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Friday that a visit to the United States by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special investment envoy did not mean that negotiations on a possible peace deal in Ukraine had resumed.
Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources with knowledge of the visit, that Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy, was in the U.S. and meeting members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration for discussions on a peace deal and U.S.-Russia economic cooperation.
“Kirill Dmitriev is not negotiating a settlement in Ukraine, and this is not a resumption of the negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday when asked about the matter. “Kirill Dmitriev heads the group on economic issues, and he continues to work within this group.”
Putin on Thursday announced a 32-hour ceasefire over a two-day period for Orthodox Easter on Sunday. His Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv would abide by the measure.
Peskov, who has said that peace talks are paused due to events in the Middle East, said the ceasefire was humanitarian in nature and that Russia wanted a proper peace deal rather than simply a ceasefire. “As we have repeatedly said, and as President Putin has said, we do not want a ceasefire, we want peace, a lasting, sustainable peace,” Peskov said.
“And this peace can come today if President Zelenskiy makes the appropriate decision, takes responsibility and makes the appropriate decision,” Peskov said.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Anna Peverieri; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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