Russia and US discuss economic cooperation separately from Ukraine conflict: Pavel Dubravsky

Pavel Dubravsky, a political analyst specializing in the US, commented to Alpha News on Western media reports about possible agreements between Russia and the US on partial lifting of sanctions.

“So far, there are no possible agreements that have been announced publicly by both sides and, most importantly, confirmed by both sides. As for the potential partial lifting of sanctions, there are, of course, arguments in favor of the idea that this issue is being discussed. If we look at the delegation of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that last flew to Moscow, we will see that it included Jim Lang. He is called the ‘king of sanctions’: he is the person at the US Treasury who is responsible for developing and imposing American sanctions, as well as for coordinating sanctions policy, including with the EU. He was not present at the round table with Vladimir Putin, but he was part of the delegation. So I think the issue of sanctions was potentially discussed,” Dubravsky said.

According to the analyst, the visit to the US by Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), after those contacts indicates an attempt by Moscow to separate the topics of economic cooperation with Washington and the settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

“It is obvious that Kirill Dmitriev communicated with representatives of the American side and then went to the US to discuss economic cooperation. I think the Russian side is now trying to build the system in such a way as to separate the tracks of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and economic cooperation with the US. This could be a parallel process, where steps toward economic cooperation would also mean possible reciprocal steps from Russia. However, last week at the Valdai Club session, Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to negotiate and discuss various issues, but that this requires a concrete subject of negotiations and a list of decisions for the parties to discuss,” the expert noted.

Dubravsky also stressed that the topic of easing sanctions has indeed returned to the negotiating agenda, but so far it is more a matter of discussing possible options than of agreements reached.

“This issue has indeed reappeared on the agenda and is on the table of the negotiating group. But looking at the situation realistically, for now it looks more like a discussion. Questions related to Lukoil’s assets were raised, as well as other topics important to the US in terms of oil prices, gasoline prices and the overall economic situation. In addition, one must take into account the upcoming US congressional elections, which will take place next month. So I would say that this agenda remains, but today we see no evidence confirming that Russia and the US are ready to reach concrete agreements in this area,” Dubravsky concluded.