President Vladimir Putin on Sunday appointed Kirill Dmitriev, the chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, as a special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation.
A US-educated former Goldman Sachs banker, Kirill Dmitriev has cut an unexpected figure at recent talks between the US and Russia in Riyadh.
His main role, his main task, is what Putin assigned him: to get the Americans to lift sanctions pressure. That’s his job,” Russia’s former deputy foreign minister, told NBC News.
Riyadh in Saudi Arabia hosted the first stage of talks between the delegations of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the restoration of US-Russia relations and the formation of negotiating teams on the Russo-Ukrainian war.
But, from Vladimir Putin’s point of view, he had good reason to be part of it. As the boss of one of Russia’s state-backed investment funds, Mr Dmitriev has been cutting deals for more than a decade.