Witte Huis envy Steve Witkoff landed in Russia on Wednesday for his fifth visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, because President Donald Trump wants to force a peace agreement and put an end to the three-and-half-year war in Ukraine.
Little seems to have been achieved from the three -hour meeting in the way to conclude a peace agreement, or even to bypass Trump’s endangered sanctions that Putin is now staring down, although according to the Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, the meeting was described as “useful and constructive”.
Ushakov said that Putin “received some signals from Trump” and “sent some signals”, but he did not respond to details.
On August 6, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets the special envoy of US President Steve Witkoff (R) in Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia. (Kremlin Press Office / Handout / Anadolu via Getty images)
Witkoff Klaartert for a peace agreement with Russia as sanctions on India, China
The adviser also said reporters that Putin and Witkoff had discussed the development of the “strategic partnership” between the US and Russia, but not worked out how. The comment came after Witkoff was seen earlier in the day that took a walk near the Kremlin with Kirill Dmitriev, the envoy of the Russian president for investments and economic cooperation.
Witkoff and Putin met shortly before noon in Moscow, according to the time stamp released by the Kremlin that accompanied an image of Putin and Witkoff and shaking hands while the Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Uhakov looked.
A police officer at the location of a Russian air raid that hit a residential building in Kiev, Ukraine on Thursday 10 July 2025. (Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg via Getty images)
Witkoff traveled to Moscow in a final attempt to get Putin to capitulate to Trump’s and Western calls to an end to the war, although the Kremlin chef was not expected to make big concessions to end his war ambitions for the trip.
Mid-July, while he was sitting next to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump promised to force “very serious” rates for Russia if Putin does not close a deal with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zenskyy inside 50 days.
“Rates at about 100%, you would call them secondary rates,” he had said, which implies that nations acting with Russia will see 100% rates at the US trading with the US
He then pushed the date until within 10 days of July 29, forcing the new deadline for Friday.
But on Tuesday, Trump ran his 100% tariff threat in the midst of difficult commercial interviews with India and China and said, “I never said a percentage.”
“We will see what happens in the next fairly short period,” he added in response to questions from reporters. “We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow. We’re going to see what happens.
President Donald Trump, Right, and Mark Rutte, Secretary General of the Noord -Atlantic Convention Organization (NATO), Shake Hand during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, July 14, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty images)
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“We will take that determination at the time,” he added.
The rates would focus most drastically on China and India, the largest buyers of Russian oil, although high rates for those countries, both of which are major traders in the US, would also mean higher prices for the American consumer.
