... and his conclusion about those 4 + hours of Putin with Witkoff.
As I write this, the clock is tolling 2300 hours eastern. By this time tomorrow night, we will have some indication of whether or not a war with Iran is on the horizon. Trump’s inside man, Steve Witkoff, stopped off in St. Petersburg, Russia today to have a chat with Vladimir Putin. That conversation reportedly lasted over four hours. I take that as a good sign. What did they discuss? The White House insists the discussion was about Ukraine and how to move forward with a deal to end that war. I am pretty sure that took up some of the time, but I also believe that Iran was discussed… in detail.
Very highly incredibly likely--Iran was a central point of this discussion. Apart from obvious and here is Lavrov verbatim, today:
Лавров заявил на Антальском дипломатическом форуме, что президент США Дональд Трамп понимает необходимость устранения первопричин конфликта на Украине для его разрешения, передает ТАСС. Он подчеркнул, что устранение коренных причин является единственным способом решения проблемы и установления длительного мира. По его словам, Трамп был первым западным лидером, кто несколько раз убедительно отметил, что вступление Украины в НАТО было бы огромной ошибкой. Лавров также отметил, что у России и США есть потенциал для налаживания отношений. «Потенциал есть всегда», – заявил он, отвечая на вопрос о возможности более активных действий по улучшению отношений между Москвой и Вашингтоном.
Translation: Lavrov said at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum that US President Donald Trump understands the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict in Ukraine to resolve it, TASS reports. He stressed that eliminating the root causes is the only way to solve the problem and establish lasting peace. According to him, Trump was the first Western leader who repeatedly and convincingly noted that Ukraine's accession to NATO would be a huge mistake. Lavrov also noted that Russia and the US have the potential to improve relations. "There is always potential," he said, answering a question about the possibility of more active actions to improve relations between Moscow and Washington.
So, the delicate dance continues. And Chinese have a field day with the whole thing:
