“An important step” with a view to the “peaceful regulation” of the Ukrainian conflict was carried out Tuesday, February 18. This is what the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov judged this Wednesday about the talks organized the day before with the United States in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Negotiations to which Ukraine, which has undergone a Russian assault for three years, has not been invited, to the chagrin of Volodymyr Zelensky.
Donald Trump’s special emissary for sensitive international affairs, Steve Witkoff, also responsible for the Middle East, told journalists that his contact in Russia was “a man called Kirill”, whose role was “important”. It is Kirill Dmitriev, the boss of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RFPI) and one of the Russian negotiators in these Russian-American talks.
Kirill Dmitriev was not present in the room, but was part of the Russian delegation in Riyadh led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov. The shadow man told journalists that he would focus on future economic relations with the United States, reports the BBC: “We must carry out common projects, especially in the Arctic region and in other regions . ” “It is very important to build bridges” between the two countries, said Kirill Dmitriev, reports AFP, believing that “relations between the United States and Russia are very important to peace”.
A great connoisseur of the United States
The presence of Kirill Dmitriev at the highest level of these intrigue negotiations. Kirill Dmitriev occupies a unique position in the power structure of the Kremlin, note The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) : He has a financial, diplomatic and political influence, but has had no career in Russian security services.
The Kremlin pays particular attention to the composition of its negotiation teams and the choice to include Kirill Dmitriev is therefore carefully thought out. Few Russians know the American financial and commercial sector better than this 49 -year -old man born in kyiv, a graduate of the Harvard Business School. Kirill Dmitriev, who speaks fluent English, worked at Goldman Sachs and at McKinsey’s office. After having a career in the United States, he specialized in private investment in Russia and Ukraine. He notably managed Delta Private Equity, an American-Russian fund set up under Bill Clinton to energize the Russian economy, specifies the Russian investigation site Vajnye Istorii.
Kirill Dmitriev was appointed in 2011 at the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RFPI), a Kremlin key organization to attract foreign capital. This investment fund of several billion dollars is supposed to manage foreign investment in investment capital for the Russian economy. This position also allows him to sit on the supervisory boards of GazPrombank, Rostelecom, Alrosa, Transneft and Russian Railways, and to win about two million dollars a year, according to a report of the independent Russian media The Insider.
A privileged link with Saudi Arabia
His position at the head of the RFPI allows him to position himself as a key player in Russian economic negotiations, mainly with China and the Gulf countries. In 2016, Kirill Dmitriev thus contributed to negotiating a pact between Russia and Saudi Arabia, called OPEC +, aimed at increasing oil prices after decades of unsuccessful attempts, specifies The Wall Street Journal. According to Novaïa Gazeta EuropeKirill Dmitriev also signed a major agreement with Saudi Arabia, thanks to which it raised more than 1000 billion rubles (10 billion euros) in 2023. Kirill Dmitriev, which led the international marketing of Spoutnik V, The Russian vaccine against the COVVI-19, therefore strengthened its ever closer relations in the Middle East.
“He was very close to the Gulf monarchies and helped establish their links with the Kremlin,” said Wsj Arsenii Pogosyan, then spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Energy. The choice of Vladimir Putin to make it an essential actor would therefore be explained in part by his privileged links with Riyadh.
A “very pragmatic” financier
According to ReutersKirill Dmitriev also played a crucial role in the exchange of prisoners between Moscow and Washington, especially during the release of Russian Alexander Vinnik in return for the return of the teacher and former American diplomat Marc Fogel. Kirill Dmitriev worked with Steve Witkoff during this exchange of prisoners who preceded Donald Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin, alongside the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmane.
According to John Bolton, former Trump National Security Advisor during his first mandate, the Kremlin probably chose Kirill Dmitriev as a counterpart of Steve Witkoff, who made a fortune in real estate and whose Russians know that it is close to new tenant of the White House. Kirill Dmitriev “could discuss the main lines of how Russia wants sanctions to be lifted, but he is also there to put Steve Witkoff at ease,” said John Bolton to the Wsj.
“It is the time of negotiators. Vladimir Putin included in his team a negotiator who, like many investment bankers, is very pragmatic, capable of speaking in terms of exchanges and transactions,” said indicated at Wsj Andrei Kolesnikov, a political analyst based in Moscow. “In addition, this man is absolutely faithful to Vladimir Putin.” The wife of Kirill Dmitriev, Natalia Popova, is a former colleague of the younger girl by Vladimir Putin, Katerina Tikhonova, and then worked for her in her institute, reports the Russian press. Interviewed by BloombergEmily Ferris, researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London, also believes that Russia “opts for pragmatism by trying to recruit someone who can speak business with Trump’s team.”
According to Bloomberg, “Kirill Dmitriev could take on a key role, that of an unofficial interlocutor with American negotiators”, according to sources close to the file interviewed by this media. Before Tuesday negotiations, Kirill Dmitriev, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department after the large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, said that the Trump administration was “ready to listen to the position of Russia , ready to understand it and this is where dialogue begins. ” With him as an essential actor.