US envoy Witkoff arrives in Russia ahead of sanctions deadline

MOSCOW: US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, state media reported, where he will meet with Russian leadership as President Donald Trump’s deadline to impose fresh sanctions looms.

Trump has given Russia until Friday to halt its offensive in Ukraine or face new penalties.

The White House has not outlined specific actions it plans to take on Friday, but Trump has previously threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” targeting Russia’s remaining trade partners, such as China and India.

The move would aim to stifle Russian exports, but would risk significant international disruption.

Trump said Tuesday that he would await the outcome of the Moscow talks before moving forward with any economic retaliation.

“We’re going to see what happens,” he told reporters. “We’ll make that determination at that time.”

After arriving in Moscow, Witkoff was met by presidential special representative Kirill Dmitriev, Russian state news agency TASS said.

An American source did not specify if the meetings will include Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Witkoff has met with several times previously.

Despite pressure from Washington, Russia has continued its campaign against its pro-Western neighbour.

Three rounds of peace talks in Istanbul have failed to make headway on a possible ceasefire, with the two sides appearing as far apart as ever.

Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce Western support.

Kyiv is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week urged his allies to push for “regime change” in Moscow.

Nuclear rhetoric

Trump has increasingly voiced frustration with Putin in recent weeks over Russia’s unrelenting offensive.

When reporters asked Trump on Monday what Witkoff’s message would be to Moscow, and if there was anything Russia could do to avoid the sanctions, Trump replied: “Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday it considered the talks with Witkoff to be “important, substantial and helpful” and valued US efforts to end the conflict.

Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said Friday that he wants peace but that his demands for ending the nearly three-and-a-half-year offensive were unchanged.

Russia has frequently called on Ukraine to effectively cede control of four regions Moscow claims to have annexed, a demand Kyiv has called unacceptable.

Putin also wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO.

The visit comes after Trump said that two nuclear submarines he deployed following an online row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev were now “in the region.”

Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military.

Russia, in its first comments on the deployment, urged “caution” Monday.

“Russia is very attentive to the topic of nuclear non-proliferation. And we believe that everyone should be very, very cautious with nuclear rhetoric,” the Kremlin’s Peskov said.