Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s affable, Kyiv-born, and Stanford-educated Ukraine peace negotiator, knows how to make a media splash.
In a rare trip to the United States to speak with the Trump administration in late October, he managed interviews on Fox News and CNN, gifted Russian President Vladimir Putin-themed chocolates to a U.S. lawmaker, and kept up a stream of posts on his X profile.
Dmitriev’s efforts appear to have borne at least some fruit: He has been closely involved in consultations with Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff, who is taking the lead on drafting a new U.S. peace plan for Ukraine, Axios reported Tuesday.
The charm offensive is an unusual characteristic for a Russian official, and it’s a sign of how Dmitriev’s atypical resume has helped him rise within Russian diplomatic circles, to the irritation of some in Moscow. Still, in a political arena dominated by one man—Putin—analysts have cautioned that Dmitriev’s rising star has a clear ceiling.
“He’s very motivated, very ambitious, very passionate about what he’s doing—maybe too much,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center think tank and the founder of the Russian political analysis website R.Politik.
Dmitriev, an investment professional who has neither a past in Russia’s security services nor its foreign service, is not your typical Russian negotiator. When asked why Putin would tap on someone such as Dmitriev to negotiate with the United States, Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Russia as well as a former deputy finance minister, said that he would “not disregard his skills as a banker.”
Aleksashenko, who said he briefly met Dmitriev on two occasions more than a decade ago before leaving Russia, said that he’s “charming,” good at building relationships, and has demonstrated to Putin that “he can deliver results” via his success in raising money for Russia in the Middle East. Dmitriev has been “very effective” in terms of serving as a “bridge for Putin to improve his presence in this region,” Aleksashenko said, and this has helped him earn the Russian leader’s trust.
But Aleksashenko, who is now a senior research fellow and head of economics at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, also cautioned against overstating Dmitriev’s status in Moscow, emphasizing that having Putin’s trust doesn’t mean that he can influence the Russian leader’s views.
Though Dmitriev has been dubbed by some in the Western media as Putin’s “Trump whisperer,” Aleksashenko rejected that moniker as an “exaggeration.” Dmitriev should be viewed as Putin’s “messenger” rather than Russia’s “lead negotiator” with the United States, Aleksashenko said, describing him as a “member of the team” who “reports directly” to the Russian leader.
Dmitriev stands behind Witkoff and speaks with one arm outstretched, palm facing the ceiling, as he gesticulates. Witkoff is seen in profile with a concerned look on his face as he lifts his hands to loosen his tie.
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Dmitriev (left) talks to U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 11. Vyacheslav Prokofyev/AFP via Getty Images
Dmitriev smiles as people hold up cell phones to take his picture in front of a seal of the U.S on a lectern behind him.
Dmitriev walks into the briefing room ahead of a news conference with Trump and Putin during a U.S.-Russia summit in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15. Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images
Dmitriev’s goal in the negotiations has been to try to soften Washington’s position by demonstrating that Russia “has something to give in financial terms” to the United States and people in President Donald Trump’s circle, Aleksashenko said. A glimpse at Dmitriev’s background offers a window into why he’s uniquely suited for this task compared to others in Putin’s orbit.
“Kirill is very well prepared,” Aleksashenko said. “He knows the country; he knows the administration. He knows people in the administration, and he has a lot of personal friends who know people in administration.”
While many in Washington doubt that Putin genuinely wants to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine—and believe that the Russian leader will never give up on the goal of subjugating the former Soviet republic—Aleksashenko pointed to Dmitriev as evidence to the contrary.
“I believe that Putin is looking to end the war,” Aleksashenko said. “Nominating his trusted person to be his messenger is a signal that Putin wants to reach a deal—and he understands that a business component in negotiations with President Trump is very important.”
Born in 1975 in Kyiv, in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Dmitriev is decades younger than many other top members of Russia’s foreign-policy elite, such as 75-year-old Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He’s also a product of a Western education rather than a military or diplomatic school in Moscow. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in 1996, and then a master’s degree from Harvard Business School in 2000, with a stint at management consultancy McKinsey in between.
In 2011, Dmitriev was appointed to lead the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a government-run organization created to drive investment into Russia. The fund attracted more than $40 billion of investment into the country before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine—and also served as a personal “slush fund” for Putin, according to the U.S. Treasury department.
As the head of the RDIF, Dmitriev has often served as an important intermediary between Russia and Gulf states—and the business ties that he’s built across the Middle East have been central to his efforts to make inroads with people in Trump’s orbit. RDIF has partnerships with the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
“While the RDIF’s stated goal is to attract investment to Russia, the fund’s operations remain shrouded in secrecy. Little is known about its investment strategies, partnerships, returns, or investor exits—leading some to view it less as a private equity fund and more as an exclusive investment club for insiders,” Alexandra Prokopenko, a Russia expert and fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told Foreign Policy. “Dmitriev’s network will likely serve as a parking lot for American capital, which will then be funneled into sectors dominated by Putin’s allies.”
The RDIF did not respond to Foreign Policy’s request for an interview with Dmitriev for this article.
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In November 2016, immediately after Trump was elected president, Dmitriev had his first-known brush with diplomatic outreach to the United States when he reportedly used his business ties to reach out to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on behalf of the Kremlin. Dmitriev’s efforts eventually led to Kushner receiving a Russia-U.S. “reconciliation” plan, copies of which were later given to Trump advisor Steve Bannon and incoming Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Kushner received the plan from Rick Gerson, a close friend and hedge fund manager who worked on the proposal with Dmitriev. Gerson was introduced to Dmitriev in late November 2016 by George Nader—a Lebanese-American businessman who was a senior advisor to United Arab Emirates ruler Mohammed bin Zayed. Nader also reportedly helped organize a meeting between Dmitriev and Erik Prince, the founder of the U.S. private military company Blackwater and a prominent Trump supporter, in the Seychelles in January 2017.
Dmitriev’s outreach to people in Trump’s circle, and his efforts to push a U.S.-Russia reconciliation by leveraging his business ties in the Middle East, were referenced in special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report on the investigation that he led into Russian election interference. In a July post on X, Dmitriev wrote, “I had 13 pages in the Mueller report—no wrongdoing found. I worked to build US-Russia dialogue.”
Though he was named in the Mueller report more than 100 times and received considerable media attention as a result, Dmitriev truly rose to prominence when, as head of the RDIF, he helped lead efforts to promote Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed Sputnik. That effort saw him speak frequently to domestic and international media as well as meet publicly with Putin.
A grouping of six men mill about in a hallway with white floors and pale walls. All of the men wear dark business suits and ties. Putin and Dmitriev shake hands at the center of the throng, smiling at each other.
In a photo distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin (third from left) shakes hands with Dmitriev (second from right) during a meeting with Witkoff (left) in St. Petersburg on April 11. Vyacheslav Prokofye/AFP via Getty Images
Behind the scenes, Dmitriev also had a more personal tie to Putin. Dmitriev’s wife, Natalya Popova, is a friend of Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, according the Insider, a Russian outlet. This personal connection is also part of the reason that Putin appears to trust Dmitriev, Aleksashenko said.
With Trump back in the White House for a second term, Dmitriev swung back into diplomatic action in early 2025. In February, he was involved in a prisoner exchange that saw the United States trade a Russian cybercriminal for an American schoolteacher imprisoned in Russia. Witkoff praised Dmitriev for his role in the exchange.
Putin likely chose Dmitriev due to his previous experience in networking his way into Trump’s circle, Stanovaya said: “Even before Trump’s election in November [2024], Putin started thinking about how Russia could develop channels with Americans.”
Since then, Dmitriev has played a prominent role in peace negotiations, focusing on economic cooperation. Dmitriev attended talks between the United States and Russia in Saudi Arabia in February, in one of many signs that the relationships he’s garnered in the Middle East have helped him gain Putin’s trust.
Dmitriev walks through a doorway as he exits an ornately decorated building, with members of the press surrounding him with cameras. A Saudi official in a red and white headdress stands in front of the doorway, closer to the camera, with a serious look on his face.
Dmitriev speaks to members of the media as he leaves a hotel after the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18. Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Dmitriev then visited Washington in April for the first visit by a high-ranking Russian official to the United States since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. To facilitate the trip, the United States temporarily lifted sanctions against Dmitriev, first put in place by the Biden administration in February 2022.
He attended the Trump-Putin peace summit in Alaska in August, and in October, he met in Miami with Witkoff, the U.S. lead negotiator, who—like Dmitriev—comes from a business background. Witkoff, in consultation with Dmitriev, is working to develop a “28-point” peace plan for Ukraine, Axios reported Tuesday. The Kremlin appeared to throw cold water over the plan that same day, though, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stating that there was nothing new to report on Ukraine negotiations.
Earlier this month, Dmitriev wrote on X that their meetings in Miami covered the “the US proposal to prohibit nazi ideology in Ukraine.”
It’s unclear what proposal Kirill was referring to. Russia has long argued without evidence that Ukraine is a pro-Nazi state, but the United States has not. Asked for comment last week before the news of the new peace plan broke, the State Department referred Foreign Policy to the White House.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated in an email, “The President has been clear that it is time to stop the killing and make a deal to end the war. President Trump believes that there is a chance to end this senseless war if flexibility is shown.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on Wednesday.
Dmitriev’s actual power within the Kremlin is murky, no matter how public he may be.
“I wouldn’t call Dmitriev an influential figure within Russia’s ruling stratum,” Prokopenko said, adding that he received the formal title of presidential special representative in February “simply to give him a seat at the negotiating table, not to wield actual influence over the process.”
“The special representative position carries no real authority within Russia’s executive power structure—a crucial point when assessing someone’s true clout,” Prokopenko said.
Within Russia’s hierarchy, Stanovaya said, Putin cares most about those within the established military or diplomatic system, such as Lavrov or Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who have played more prominent roles in negotiations with the United States.
“For Putin, your official status and your role in the state is extremely important,” Stanovaya said. Dmitriev “is outside of the traditional decision-making system. It’s Putin himself, the Foreign Ministry, then the FSB and the Defense Ministry,” she said, using the acronym for Russia’s Federal Security Service. “So in this system, there is no place for Dmitriev.”
Dmitriev’s insistence on being part of the negotiations, meanwhile, has reportedly irritated those who sit on the diplomatic side—most notably Lavrov. During a February meeting between U.S. and Russian negotiators, Lavrov tried to keep Dmitriev from taking a seat at the table, Russian news outlet Agentstvo reported.
Meanwhile, on the U.S. side, there appears to be little interest in trading Ukraine for the economic deals that Dmitriev is meant to advocate for. Despite both sides bringing along economic representatives to the Alaska summit, no business deals were announced after Trump and Putin were unable to agree on terms for ending the war.
U.S. interest in the economic benefits offered by Dmitriev appear to have only further deflated since then. In October, the United States sanctioned two of Russia’s top oil producers, following the collapse of a mooted U.S.-Russian summit in Budapest. The Trump administration called off the meeting after Russia reportedly stuck to maximalist demands during a planning call between Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Dmitriev is seen in profile as he lifts one hand to gesture. He is again wearing a dark suit and glasses, this time in front of an ornately decorated room with all white walls, columns, and shelving.
Dmitriev gestures during a ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on Aug. 7.Contributor/Getty Images
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking to CBS News, called Dmitriev a “Russian propagandist” following Dmitriev’s October visit to the United States.
Dmitriev’s role is not owed to any “particular negotiating skills or specialized expertise, but to his preexisting contacts with Trump’s team and family—specifically, his earlier relationship-building with Jared Kushner,” Prokopenko said. “Trump’s people needed someone familiar who hadn’t been tainted by dealings with the previous administration, and Dmitriev fit the bill.”
Still, in the shifting battlegrounds of the Kremlin elite, Dmitriev could rise further. Lavrov missed a key meeting on nuclear weapons testing in early November, and he is not listed as attending the upcoming G-20 summit, sparking speculation that Putin is displeased with Lavrov over the failure of the Budapest summit.
It’s as yet unclear what caused the absence—Kremlin spokesperson Peskov refuted that Lavrov had fallen out of favor when asked about him at a press conference. And Stanovaya, writing in R.Politik, argued that the failure at Budapest is an unlikely reason for Lavrov to be sidelined, given that Lavrov’s negotiations over the summit were “certainly coordinated with President [Putin] in advance.”
But even if Dmitriev were to gain more authority, it’s clear who ultimately calls the shots: “Only Putin decides,” Stanovaya said.
