Russia’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, has warned that “certain countries” will make “titanic efforts” to disrupt the upcoming August 15 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Dmitriev’s comments came on Saturday, a day after Trump announced the summit, which is intended to address the three-and-a-half-year conflict in Ukraine.
Trump had previously stated that a ceasefire deal was “very close” to being reached. While the specifics of the proposed agreement have not been made public, reports suggest it could involve Ukraine ceding significant territory to Russia, a concession that many European nations would oppose. Dmitriev, in a post on his Telegram account, accused these unnamed countries of attempting to prolong the war. He specified that the “efforts” he was referring to would include “provocations and disinformation.”
The Kremlin had already confirmed the summit, with Putin’s aide, Yuri Ushakov, stating that the leaders would “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis.” Ushakov acknowledged that the process would be “challenging” but added that Moscow would “engage in it actively and energetically.”
The meeting, which will take place in Alaska, is seen as a key step in Trump’s ongoing efforts to broker a peace deal. The location itself is symbolic, as Alaska was sold by Russia to the U.S. in 1867. This will be Putin’s first trip to the United States in a decade. The summit has been met with mixed reactions, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government constitutionally barred from ceding territory. Ukraine has also insisted it must be present for any discussions about its future.