RUSSIA IS NO LONGER HIDING WHAT IT BELIEVES IT HAS WON IN WASHINGTON
The Kremlin is now speaking about the United States not as the country leading Russia’s economic isolation, but as a willing business partner.
Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, says Moscow and Washington are discussing an extensive collection of economic projects extending far beyond the controversial diesel agreement.
The reported discussions include Russian fertilizers, aluminum and rare-earth metals, Arctic development, energy and LNG projects, as well as joint data centers potentially powered by small nuclear reactors.
Most strikingly, Dmitriev claims the U.S. Treasury Department asked his Russian sovereign wealth fund to assist with processing payments and resolving obstacles surrounding the diesel deal. That specific request remains Moscow’s account, but the broader economic talks have been independently reported.
This is exactly what sanctions were designed to prevent. Russia invaded Ukraine, bombed its cities and built an economy around sustaining the war. Yet instead of being forced to end that aggression before returning to international markets, Moscow is now discussing how to expand trade with the United States while the war continues.
The image would once have seemed unimaginable: a Kremlin envoy publicly describing American officials as partners helping Russia navigate the sanctions placed upon it.
Whether every proposed project becomes reality is almost secondary. The political message Moscow is sending is unmistakable. Russia no longer speaks like an isolated aggressor under pressure. It speaks like a power that believes it has regained influence inside Washington—and that the Trump administration is prepared to open the door.
While Russian bombs fall on Ukrainian homes, the Kremlin is already drawing up its American shopping list.- Ukraine News