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US special envoy Witkoff says he could travel to Russia again in coming weeks

Steve Witkoff recently visited Russia to arrange a prisoner swap and discuss other issues

WASHINGTON, February 18. /TASS/. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said he could travel to Russia again in the coming weeks.

He made the statement at a news conference following the Russia-US talks in Riyadh.

Asked whether he planned to visit Russia shortly, he replied, "I'm not sure, but we'll make that determination in the next couple of weeks."

Witkoff recently visited Russia to arrange a prisoner swap and discuss other issues.

Russian and US delegations held talks on February 18 that lasted about 4 1/2 hours. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev. The US team included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Witkoff, whose mandate initially covered the Middle East, but was then effectively expanded to encompass Russia and Ukraine.

According to Ushakov, the delegations had a serious conversation on all the issues they wanted to cover, including bringing the views of Russia and the US closer together and Ukraine talks. He said it is unclear who would be appointed as negotiators for the Ukrainian settlement, as the president has yet to make a decision. The US State Department said that Lavrov and Rubio agreed to set up negotiating teams and cooperate on matters of mutual geopolitical interest.

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