US may soften anti-Russian sanctions after settlement deal for Ukraine — special envoy

The US administration may start the process of softening anti-Russian sanctions after reaching an agreement for the peaceful settlement in Ukraine, special envoy of the US President Steven Witkoff said, Report informs.

"President [Donald Trump] did not discuss, specifically, sanctions yesterday [in the telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin]," Witkoff said. "I think, obviously that's a conversation [on softening of sanctions] that the two leaders are going to have, and everybody is open to it. But first and foremost, we want a solution to that means an end to the fighting. We want to get to the ceasefire. That's the President's policy. And we're going to get to the ceasefire, and I think after that, everything else will be a detail, sanction relief and all the other things that go with a full-on peace treaty," the envoy noted in an interview with Bloomberg.

"I've had two meetings at the direction of President Trump with President Putin in the last several weeks that have collectively aggregated to almost eight hours. Many other senior people in the [US] administration are having meetings with their colleagues and their counterparts there," Witkoff continued. "President [Trump] has directed all of this. There is amazing progress being made. Yesterday, in one telephone call, we talked about an immediate ceasefire on energy infrastructure. That's game changing," he added.