Overview
- A roughly four-hour Kremlin meeting between Vladimir Putin and U.S. envoys Stephen Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Josh Grunbaum was described by aide Yuri Ushakov as substantive, constructive and unusually candid.
- Moscow and Washington agreed to convene a three-party security working group in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 23 led on the Russian side by GRU chief Igor Kostyukov, with Dmitry Peskov noting talks could extend into Saturday as delegations arrive.
- Parallel Russia–U.S. economic discussions will address frozen Russian assets, with Kirill Dmitriev and Witkoff to meet in Abu Dhabi; Peskov cited a U.S.-held total of slightly under $5 billion and raised possible post-conflict reconstruction uses.
- The Kremlin reiterated that long-term peace depends on settling the territorial issue under the agreed Anchorage framework and said Russia will keep pursuing its military objectives if diplomacy fails.
- President Donald Trump warned Ukraine could lose additional territory without a deal, while U.S. interlocutors signaled the process had been narrowed to a single question following contacts in Davos.