The Kremlin has released footage of the opening of negotiations between Putin and the American delegation. Representing the American side, in addition to Witkoff, are Jared Kushner and Josh Gruenbaum, Commissioner of the US General Services Administration’s Federal Procurement Service. 

US envoys Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner travelled to Moscow from Davos on January 22 for the latest meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and try and bring the war in Ukraine to an end. This was Witkoff's seventh meeting with Putin. 

The day before Witkoff said in a speech at Davos that only “one more item” remains on the negotiating agenda to resolve before a ceasefire deal can be agreed, but gave no more details.

They also discussed the Board of Peace for Gaza, the Greenland issue, and bilateral relations, and agreed to maintain close contact on Ukraine and other issues, TASS reprots. 

Following the last five-hour-long Moscow meeting between the US envoys and Putin on December 3, a 27-point peace plan (27PPP) was worked out that the Kremlin largely signed off on. However, the two sticking points that remain concern territory and security guarantees.

Putin said that that territory remains the problem, although he gave no details of the substance of the talks.

A final agreement came close to be reached at the Mar-a-Lago meeting on December 28 between Zelenskiy and Trump, but faltered at the last step after Zelenskiy reportedly refused to sign off, as he still misses adequate real Article 5-like security guarantees. However, that point appears to have been resolved after an impromptu meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump on the side lines of Davos the day before.

Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump in Davos lasted about an hour and yielded no significant results, The Bell reports. The leaders failed to agree on the creation of an $800bn Ukrainian recovery fund or post-war security guarantees, the FT reported. The documents on this issue had been preliminarily agreed upon by the US administration, but Trump left the summit without signing them, the newspaper writes.

bne IntelliNews sources in Moscow report that the Kremlin is also holding out for its own security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine to ensure a new Ukrainian president or regime in the West do not choose to restart the conflict and try and reclaim the territory occupied by Russia in the current four-year-long conflict.

The US side was represented in the three hour-long late-night meeting by Witkoff, Kushner and White House staffer Josh Gruenbaum, who has taken part in previous negotiations. On the Russian side in addition to Putin were Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy advisor, and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Few concrete details were released, but both sides gave upbeat comments on the contents of the talks. According to Zelenskiy's remarks in Davos, the US side arrived in Moscow with a copy of Ukraine's 20-point peace plan (20PPP) submitted to the Kremlin on Christmas Eve.

"We are at the end now, and I actually am optimistic," Witkoff said, TASS reports.

Ushakov told reporters the talks, which began shortly before midnight, had been "substantive, constructive and very frank" Reuters reports.

"The meeting that has just concluded at the Kremlin was useful in all aspects, both for us and the United States. The meeting’s participants agreed that Russia and the US would maintain close contact on Ukraine and other issues," he said, TASS reports. 

Zelenskiy also didn’t comment on the meeting or negotiations, however, in an unusual remark earlier this month, he said that the war may end by summer, where normally he doesn’t give timelines to statements like this.

Ukraine is currently under an extreme bombardment, where the Kremlin is attempting to freeze Ukraine into submission by targeting the power grid and blacking out the heat and light in major cities in the midst of the coldest January in a decade. According to local reports, thousands of residents have already fled Kyiv which is already starting to become uninhabitable.

UAE meeting

The latest Moscow meeting will be followed up by a two-day trilateral meeting in the UAE starting on January 23 apparently to thrash out details of a potential ceasefire, "economic affairs," and a separate working group concerning security will join the trilateral meeting, according to Ushakov.

"This bilateral group, consisting of Russia and the United States, will include Kirill Dmitriev and Steve Witkoff," he said. "The Americans have done a lot to prepare the meeting [in Abu Dhabi], and they hope that it will be a success, opening up prospects for progress on the entire range of issues related to ending the conflict and reaching a peaceful settlement agreement."

The FT reports the Kremlin has still not formally signed off on the meeting in the UAE, but it is generally expected to go ahead.

According to the FT, in Abu Dhabi, the US and Ukraine want to offer Russia a moratorium on attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in exchange for a halt to Ukrainian attacks on Russian tankers and refineries. The Ukrainian team will be led by the new head of the presidential office, Kirill Budanov.

Ushakov added that Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov would head Moscow's team at the three-way security talks, and investment envoy Dmitriev would meet separately with Witkoff to talk about “economic issues.”

"Our security negotiating team has already been formed and will depart for the Emirates in the coming hours. It includes representatives of the Ministry of Defence leadership, led by Admiral Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff," Ushakov added, The Kyiv Independent reports.

The separate Witkoff-Dmitriev business talks have been an item since negotiations began in Riyad last February as the US side has made it clear that Trump is interested in doing business with Russia. This meeting suggests a deal is close and that there is a raft of business deals under discussion that is not being shared with the public.

Land remains the main sticking point, according to comments made by Putin and reported by the Russian press. It appears clear that Putin is still insisting that Bankova give up the remaining 15% of the Donetsk region in the Donbas that it still controls, that includes Ukraine’s extensive “Fortress Line” – something that Zelenskiy has flatly refused to contemplate so far.

The Russian delegation received "specific instructions" from Putin to resolve "the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage," he said, referring to the Alaska summit with Trump on August 15 where a framework deal was agreed between the two presidents.

But Ushakov stressed that Putin was "sincerely interested" in a diplomatic solution.

Trump said in Davos that Putin and Zelenskiy would be "stupid" if they failed to come together and get a deal done.

Peace Council

Back at Davos, Trump hosted the inauguration of his newly established Board of Peace, a conflict resolution international body that critics says is designed to usurp the role of the UN.

Some 60 countries have already been invited to join the controversial organisation which has a hefty $1bn membership fee and will be chaired by Trump, who retains a personal veto over any and all decisions.

Trump welcomed Putin’s suggestion that Russia use part of the $5bn of Central Bank of Russia (CBR);s frozen assets to pay the $1bn membership fee.

“If he's using his money, that's great. I think it’s important to have everybody in,” Trump said on Air Force One while travelling home from the Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland on January 2.

Critics have pointed out that Russia’s membership in the body will be in effect a rehabilitation for Russia and a return to the international community that will undermine European efforts to isolate the Kremlin. Belarus has also been offered membership and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has already signed off on accession for similar reasons.

The White House also rolled out a logo for the new international body. “Beyond parody: Trump's "Board of Peace" logo is basically the UN logo repainted in tacky fake gold and with "the world" reduced to only North America,” said political commentator and bne IntelliNews contributor Arnaud Bertrand.

Ukraine has also been offered a place in the organisation, but Zelenskiy said Kyiv would only consider membership after the war with Russia was over as it was “not possible to sit that the same table as Russia and Belarus” while conflict is still underway, Zelenskiy told delegates at in Davos.

“But for us it is clear that we will be able to be there when the war ends. We and Russia are enemies now. Belarus is an ally of Russia; we cannot be there [at the same table] with them. And this is in the package, in the 20-point plan. I think all this, and the monitoring mission, will work when the war is over – for us,” Zelenskiy said, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

A total of 19 countries turned up for the inaugural signing ceremony to establish the Peace Council including: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia.

Belarus, Israel and probably Russia are in. Canada is out. Ahead of the ceremony Trump withdrew the invitation to Canadian Prime Minister Carney to join the Board of Peace after a sharply critical speech at Davos, where the Canadian PM said that the West had “lost the Second Cold War.”

Trump said in a social media post on January 22 that Carney would no longer be welcome on the board, which his administration initially created to oversee the end of the war in Gaza but has since said would have a broader mission.

Carney pushed back sharply at Trump’s remark that “Canada lives because of the United States” in his speech at the WEF a day earlier. “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian,” Carney said in his speech.