Trump Envoys to Visit Moscow Before Kyiv as US-Russia Diplomatic Push Intensifies

The Trump administration is deepening its direct engagement with Moscow, with reports that presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Russia before traveling to Ukraine, following a month of high-level contacts that included a secret CIA visit and the first face-to-face meeting of US and Russian finance ministers since 2022.

Witkoff and Kushner are expected to travel to Moscow and then to Kyiv in the coming days, according to reports on 4 September. The sequence — Russia first, Ukraine second — signals that Washington is prioritizing a dialogue with the Kremlin as it seeks to advance President Donald Trump's 28-point peace plan for Ukraine.

Ratcliffe's Moscow Trip Sets the Stage

The planned envoy visit follows CIA Director John Ratcliffe's secret trip to Moscow on 25 August, where he met with FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov and Foreign Intelligence Service head Sergei Naryshkin. According to The New York Times, Ratcliffe gave a pessimistic assessment of Russia's war prospects, urging the Kremlin to begin genuine negotiations before Russia's military and economic position deteriorates further. He did not issue any threats about consequences if Putin continued the war.

Axios reported that Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral summit between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. US officials briefed Zelenskyy on the proposal on 29 August. The idea had been floated before: Zelenskyy supported it, but Putin rejected it earlier. Ratcliffe reportedly concluded that Bortnikov could be a constructive player in reviving diplomatic efforts.

Trump described the CIA visit as "very semi-routine" but acknowledged that "something may come out of it," according to Sky News. He later denied that Ratcliffe had delivered any warning about NATO, telling Axios that "there was no message and there was nothing unusual."

Baltic Warnings and Iran

Despite Trump's denial, Politico reported that Ratcliffe used the Moscow visit to urge Russian officials not to take actions that could escalate tensions with NATO's Baltic members — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. He also pressed Russia to reduce its military and economic support for Iran, according to an unnamed source and a British official.

The warning came amid a series of recent Russian threats against NATO countries supporting Ukraine, raising concerns that Moscow could resort to further aggressive hybrid warfare or limited military action against allies.

Finance Ministers Meet at G20

On the sidelines of the G20 summit in Asheville, North Carolina, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on 31 August. Bessent used the meeting to push Trump's peace plan, according to Fox Business. The Russian Finance Ministry later said the two discussed "issues of Russian-US cooperation in the financial sector" and "cooperation within the G20."

Siluanov's presence at the summit — the first time a Russian minister personally attended such a meeting since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022 — angered European allies. German Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil publicly condemned Russia's aggression and expressed dissatisfaction with the US decision to host him. Several European ministers threatened to boycott the traditional group photo; Siluanov ultimately did not appear in it.

Trump, asked why Russia had been invited, replied: "We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons that I'm so successful, I get along with everybody," according to The New York Times.

Sanctions Bill Awaits White House Approval

While the administration engages Russia directly, a bipartisan US Senate sanctions bill targeting Russia awaits White House approval. The bill, co-authored by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, passed the Senate on 7 August with 86 votes. It imposes punitive tariffs on countries importing Russian energy and targets oligarchs, financial institutions, and the shadow fleet.

Senator Blumenthal, speaking in Kyiv on 26 August, said he hopes the bill will pass the House in September. "It has very strong support on the Republican side," he said, according to European Pravda. The delay, he explained, is due to the need for a green light from the White House after lengthy talks with the US trade representative and party leadership.

What It Means

The flurry of diplomatic activity — Ratcliffe's visit, the Bessent-Siluanov meeting, and the upcoming Witkoff-Kushner trip — suggests the Trump administration is pursuing a dual-track approach: direct engagement with Moscow on ending the war, while keeping sanctions leverage in reserve. The sequence of envoy visits (Russia before Ukraine) and Trump's conciliatory rhetoric toward Moscow have unsettled European allies, who fear the US may press Kyiv into concessions. The critical open question remains whether Putin will agree to the proposed trilateral summit, which he has already rejected once.