Russia just started talking postwar business with America before any peace deal

Russia and America just sat down in Washington to talk about life after the war in Ukraine.

Before the war is even over.

Kirill Dmitriev flew in four days ago. He runs Russia's sovereign wealth fund and carries the formal title of Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. He met officials from the US Treasury and Energy departments.

A US official told Reuters the talks were constructive. They covered a peaceful end to the war, and possible US-Russia energy projects once the fighting stops.

So who is Kirill Dmitriev? He's US-educated. He worked at Goldman Sachs and at McKinsey. In Moscow, he's seen as the negotiator most comfortable sitting across from Washington.

And this wasn't his first trip this month.

About nine days ago he was in New York for the UN General Assembly. He met Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two of Donald Trump's envoys. In those talks he'd already landed a sanctions waiver for Russian oil shipped by sea, plus several prisoner swaps between Russia and America.

And about four weeks ago, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner went the other way. They sat down with Vladimir Putin himself, in Moscow, on 5 September.

So this isn't one meeting. It's a channel that's been running for weeks.

It also came about a week after Donald Trump met Volodymyr Zelensky in New York. Volodymyr Zelensky said afterwards they'd discussed a possible ceasefire limited to energy targets.

Now here's the twist.

The Americans in the room with Kirill Dmitriev weren't from the State Department. They were from Treasury and Energy.

So this wasn't a conversation about a ceasefire line or where troops sit. It was about money. And energy projects. The kind of talk you have once a war is over. Not while it's still running.

The Kremlin has confirmed the shape of the visit. Not the detail.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, said a day ago that Kirill Dmitriev had briefed Vladimir Putin on what came out of his US contacts. He said the Moscow-Washington dialogue is continuing.

But Dmitry Peskov told it differently to how the American side did.

He said Russia believes the two countries could be cooperating on economic projects right now. He called it unfortunate that Washington keeps tying that economic track to a full Ukraine settlement first.

That's Russia saying it wants the economic upside before a peace deal. Not after one.

And Vladimir Putin hasn't moved on his core demand. He wants Ukrainian troops to fully withdraw from the parts of Donetsk region they still hold. Kyiv rejects that completely.

So the money talks are moving in Washington. The actual war terms are stuck exactly where they were.

There's a separate claim swirling around the same channel.

The Atlantic reported that another Trump envoy, John Coale, has been pushing a plan to ease sanctions on Russia in exchange for freeing political prisoners. Modelled on a deal already done with Belarus.

In that deal, Belarus released 25 prisoners on 16 September, then 15 more on 24 September. Washington lifted sanctions on two Belarusian companies in return. The rights group Viasna says 883 political prisoners are still held there.

So was Moscow asked about the same kind of deal?

Dmitry Peskov was asked exactly that. He denied it outright.

A US official, asked the same question, would only say Donald Trump remains committed to playing a constructive role in ending the war. The White House didn't address The Atlantic's report directly.

So two different US voices, on the same channel, got almost the same question. And gave two different kinds of answer.

All of this while the war itself keeps going. Russia has stepped up daytime drone attacks on Kyiv this week, using fast jet-powered drones that are straining Ukraine's air defences.

And here's what's missing from every account so far.

Kyiv. Ukraine hasn't said whether it was even told about the Washington meeting, let alone consulted. It's said nothing about the prisoners-for-sanctions reports either.

It's also not known exactly who at Treasury and Energy sat down with Kirill Dmitriev, or which energy projects came up. Donald Trump didn't take part himself.

So Washington and Moscow are already talking about the economics of peace.

Nobody has said yet whether Kyiv gets a seat at that table.