Russian President Vladimir Putin has led the United States on a weekslong diplomatic goose chase with the promise of peace in Ukraine — an endgame that keeps getting pushed back. Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev is in Washington this week to speak with White House officials and offer them a “real understanding of the Russian position”

Russia is still counting on US President Donald Trump to deliver an acceptable peace deal in Ukraine, though it’s prepared to continue the war if talks fail, according to people in Moscow familiar with the matter.

The Russian leader recently said that Zelenskyy lacks the legitimacy to sign a peace deal and suggested that Ukraine needed external governance.

One country that did not feature on Donald Trump's list of tariffs on US trade partners was Russia. US outlet Axios quoted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as saying this was because existing US sanctions on Russia "preclude any meaningful trade" and noting that Cuba,

Donald Trump’s new trade crackdown had one eyebrow-raising omission: Russia. The absence of Russia on the president’s new list of countries that he’ll hit with steep tariffs did not go unnoticed on social media.

The Russian independent portal Meduza assessed that Donald Trump did not impose tariffs on Russia to avoid tensions related to talks about ending the war in Ukraine. However, it was mentioned that Moscow might also face a separate decree.