Moscow, March 13 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet behind closed doors on Thursday with US special envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss a proposed Ukraine ceasefire that has already been accepted by Kyiv.
“The meeting between Witkoff and Putin will take place this afternoon behind closed doors,” Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov told the newspaper Izvestia.
More details on the agenda and potential outcomes of the talks remain undisclosed.
“Indeed, the negotiators are flying. Contacts are scheduled,” presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He did not rule out a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and the US delegation, aside from his scheduled talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the meeting could take place as early as Thursday.
According to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, flight tracking data showed a plane carrying US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, entering Russian airspace from Qatar.
Peskov also noted that Putin would hold an international phone conversation Wednesday but declined to confirm if it would be with Trump.
While Russia has yet to state its position on the ceasefire proposal, Peskov said Moscow would wait for details from recent negotiations in Saudi Arabia before responding.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt urged Russia to support the plan.
“We urge the Russians to sign on to this plan. This is the closest we have been to peace in this war” Leavitt said.
“We are on the 10-yard line, and President (Trump) hopes the Russians will help us take this into the end zone.”
Russia has so far refrained from commenting on the truce, though Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously dismissed it while rejecting the idea of European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. EFE
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