Summary
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for economic cooperation, has arrived in the United States for discussions just days after President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russian energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil.
Washington, October 25, 2025 — Russian economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev has traveled to the United States for diplomatic talks amid renewed tensions between Moscow and Washington following new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies.
According to CNN and Axios, Dmitriev’s visit aims “to continue discussions about the U.S.–Russia relationship.” The trip marks his second to the U.S. since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He is expected to meet White House envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami on Saturday.
Dmitriev and Witkoff previously met in Washington in April after the U.S. government temporarily lifted sanctions to allow him to obtain a visa. His latest trip follows President Trump’s move to sanction Rosneft and Lukoil and cancel a planned summit with Putin after failing to reach progress on a Ukraine ceasefire.
The Kremlin condemned the sanctions as politically motivated. Dmitriev, who leads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, shared an in-flight image showing his aircraft over Massachusetts en route to New York on Friday.
The visit comes as some members of Congress push to reopen dialogue with Moscow. Earlier this month, Florida congresswoman and Trump ally Anna Paulina Luna said she planned to meet Dmitriev “later this month,” without elaborating on the agenda.
Last week, Dmitriev made headlines by proposing the construction of a “Putin–Trump Tunnel” between Alaska and Russia, a symbolic $8 billion undersea project he suggested could be built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company within eight years.
Dmitriev has not issued any public statements about his ongoing U.S. visit.