Russian soldiers in uniforms without identifying insignia in Crimea in 2014. Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine began that year with the seizure of the territory.
The Kremlin is keeping its options open, but analysts said the Russian leader would probably only meet with his Ukrainian counterpart to accept a capitulation.
President Vladimir V. Putin in Anchorage on Friday. The Russian leader “appears to have decided that the time for real diplomacy has come,” one analyst said.
Showing an uncanny ability to adapt to circumstances, Sergei V. Kiriyenko has turned himself into a key engineer of President Vladimir V. Putin’s autocratic machine.
Sergei V. Kiriyenko, in glasses, at President Vladimir V. Putin’s annual state of the nation address in Moscow in 2024, in a photograph distributed by Russian state media.
Dmitri N. Kozak, who has said privately that the invasion was a mistake, has lost power to another senior Putin ally, Sergei V. Kiriyenko, who has embraced the military action.
Dmitri N. Kozak in Beijing in 2019. Mr. Kozak told associates this year that he had presented President Vladimir V. Putin with a proposal to stop the fighting in Ukraine, Kremlin insiders said.
For three years, Sergei V. Kiriyenko has handled the political aspects of the war in Ukraine, rising among a cadre of skilled managers who oversee the sprawling Russian state.
The envoy, Steve Witkoff, passed along “signals” from President Trump, according to an aide to President Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Witkoff was making his fifth visit to Russia this year.
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