Russian President Vladimir Putin received US President's special envoy Stephen Witkoff late in the evening, through whom he conveyed information to Donald Trump. This was announced by the press secretary of the head of state of Russia Dmitry Peskov.
"Yesterday late in the evening he was received by President Putin, the Russian side was provided with additional information. Through Witkoff, Putin conveyed information and additional signals to President Trump", Peskov said. Witkoff has already left Moscow, a source told TASS. The plane with the US special envoy, according to Flightradar, is already in Baku. Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov did not confirm that US special representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg was removed from negotiations with the Russian Federation at the request of the Kremlin due to his pro-Ukrainian position. Peskov said that the decision on whether Kellogg will participate in the negotiations or not is an exclusively internal matter of the United States. “No, I cannot confirm“, Peskov said.
“It is their decision who will and who will not. I cannot confirm that at all”, he added. “It would be absurd to think that the Russian side can interfere in the internal affairs of the United States. We have no intention of doing so. We say that any relations should be built on the basis of mutual respect. And on the basis of mutual respect, of course, we will not interfere in the internal “kitchen” of the Americans”, Peskov noted. The date of the conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, has not yet been specified. The dates will be set after Special Envoy Stephen Witkoff reports to the US leader on his meetings in Moscow," Peskov added.
"There is an understanding on both sides that such a conversation is necessary," he added. "There are certainly reasons to be cautiously optimistic," the Kremlin spokesman said. "Yesterday you heard a very important statement by President Putin. Answering journalists' questions, he said that he supported President Trump's position on the agreement, but expressed some questions that need to be answered together," Peskov recalled. "Therefore, yes, there is indeed a lot more to do, but nevertheless the president expressed solidarity with Mr. Trump's position."