Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has downplayed the likelihood of a breakthrough in peace talks with the United States, saying there is currently no agreement on the key elements of a deal to end Moscow's war in Ukraine.
In an interview published Tuesday by Russian newspaper Kommersant, Lavrov was asked if the U.S. and Russia had agreed on core components of a potential settlement. "The answer is immediately 'no'," he responded.
"It is not easy to agree on the key components of a settlement. They are being discussed," Lavrov added, signaling that dialogue continues but remains difficult.
He also said it may be premature to expect any broad normalization of U.S.-Russia relations. "If we return to other aspects of the Russian-American dialogue, of course, after three years of failure, it's not easy to pull relations out of this hole," Lavrov said.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's foreign envoy Steve Witkoff suggested that an emerging peace deal could include significant commercial opportunities between Russia, the U.S., and Europe.
"I believe there's a possibility to reshape the Russian-United States relationship through some very compelling commercial opportunities that I think give real stability to the region too. Partnerships create stability," Witkoff told Fox News.
Witkoff also revealed that he held a nearly five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to him, the discussion led to clarity on Putin's conditions for a long-term peace arrangement.
"It was a compelling meeting and towards the end, we actually came up with — I'm going to say finally but I don't mean in the way that we were waiting, I mean in a way that it took a while for us to get to this place — what Putin's request is to get to have a permanent peace here," Witkoff said, though he declined to disclose specific details.
