Kirill Dmitriev, Chief Executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) sovereign wealth fund, who is on the Russian negotiating team at the peace talks in Riyadh, in a brief interview told Semafor on Feb. 18 that the U.S.-Russian “discussion was very positive…. There is a major drive by President Trump to finish the conflict as soon as possible. We still have many differences, we have many different viewpoints on things—but we are engaged, we are discussing.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed in his press conference today: “A strong interest has been expressed in removing artificial barriers to the development of mutually advantageous economic cooperation. Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev participated in today’s discussion of the economic facets of our meeting. He outlined certain issues that could be resolved swiftly to the benefit of both Russia and the United States.”
Dmitriev was quoted by CBS News, citing Interfax ahead of the talks as saying, “The figure that we are voicing for the first time now is that American business has lost more than $300 billion by leaving the Russian market. Finding joint economic paths, positive solutions to issues is extremely important for the U.S. and for many other countries that are beginning to understand that the Russian market is extremely attractive and it is necessary to be present in it.”
