Putin's investment envoy Dmitriev continues talks with US officials

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, said on Sunday that he had continued talks with representatives of President Donald Trump's administration in the United States. Dmitriev told Reuters on Oct. 24 that he was in the United States for a long-planned meeting. "We have been negotiating with representatives of the U.S. administration for the third day, while in the United States," Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram messaging app. "Any attempts to put pressure on Russia are simply pointless," Dmitriev said, adding that some forces were trying to disrupt dialogue between Moscow and Washington. Dmitriev, a Stanford-educated former Goldman Sachs investment banker, is one of the most U.S.-savvy members of Russia's elite, with close relations to some key members of the Trump team. Trump on Wednesday hit Russia's two biggest oil companies with sanctions in a sharp policy shift on Moscow's war in Ukraine, prompting global oil prices to rise by nearly 5% on Thursday and some major Indian refineries to consider cutting Russian imports. But oil prices fell on Friday as skepticism crept into the market about the Trump administration's commitment to sanctions on Russian oil companies. Russia is the world's second biggest oil exporter. Putin on Thursday said that Moscow would never bow to pressure from the United States or any other foreign power, and cautioned that it would deliver an "overwhelming" response to any military strikes deep inside Russia. Dmitriev said that Russia's economy was in "good condition" with low debt – and that this information needed to be conveyed to the United States. In 2022, the year Putin ordered troops into Ukraine, the economy contracted 1.4%, but then outperformed the average of the G7 group of leading industrial nations by growing 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024. Growth this year is forecast by the economy ministry to fall to 1.0%. "We confirm that a solution to the Ukrainian conflict is possible only if the root causes of this conflict are eradicated," Dmitriev said. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

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