Overview
- Russian State Duma members, which include officials under U.S. sanctions, met five members of Congress in Washington on Thursday in a session hosted by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.
- Luna’s group included Reps. Derrick Van Orden, Andy Ogles, Eli Crane and Vicente Gonzalez, while the Russian side featured Vyacheslav Nikonov, Boris Chernyshov, Mikhail Delyagin and Svetlana Zhurova.
- Participants discussed Ukraine peace talks and concrete issues such as restoring direct flights, easing visas, resolving seized diplomatic property, reviving student exchanges and allowing Russian athletes to compete at the Olympics.
- The State Department authorized the sanctioned lawmakers’ travel and said a separate federal delegation would visit the U.S. Institute of Peace on Friday, though it did not identify who would attend.
- Ukrainian advocacy groups and several U.S. lawmakers condemned the meeting, while Russian officials portrayed it as a step toward normalized ties under Trump and said they raised a possible return visit by U.S. lawmakers to Moscow.