Steve Witkoff goes to Grand Choral Synagogue before meeting Putin in St. Petersburg

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Special Envoy to Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, will take place in St. Petersburg. According to Peskov, one does not have to expect any groundbreaking outcomes from these talks.

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View of St. Petersburg

Peskov stated that the meeting would focus on finding common ground for normalizing relations between Moscow and Washington, as well as addressing specific aspects of the Ukrainian conflict resolution. He emphasized that the process of normalizing relations and searching for a path toward resolving the Ukraine issue is ongoing, but no significant breakthroughs should be expected.

On the morning of Friday, April 11, Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg aboard a Gulfstream G650ER plane that took off from Florida, where US President Donald Trump's residence, Mar-a-Lago, is located. The plane traveled over the North Atlantic, crossed Scandinavia, and landed in St. Petersburg. Steve Witkoff then met with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Russian President's Special Representative for Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries. After their meeting, they traveled together in a convoy through the city center.

According to Fontanka, before the meeting, Witkoff visited the Grand Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg, which had been temporarily closed to the public for his visit.

Svetlana Zhurova, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, suggested that a roadmap for Ukraine could be one of the key subjects of discussion. Zhurova also mentioned that the restoration of diplomatic relations would likely be a serious topic for the talks as well, given the recent diplomatic tensions between the two countries, including the expulsion of diplomats.