US delegation to Moscow included Treasury sanctions official, Axios reports

The US delegation that travelled to Moscow included Gene Lange, the acting head of the Treasury Department’s sanctions division. His presence brought sanctions into focus as a likely subject of the discussions with Russian officials.

Lange joined US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for the visit and attended a preparatory meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy. He did not take part in the meeting with Putin, according to Axios.

A White House representative said officials from the National Security Council, the State Department and the Treasury Department were present at the meeting involving Witkoff, Kushner and Putin. The official said the two sides discussed substantive plans for next steps, which would be announced in the coming weeks, and expected equally productive meetings the following day in Ukraine.

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The two sides discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks, and look forward to equally productive meetings tomorrow in Ukraine.

The sanctions question comes as Washington maintains that Russia will not receive economic relief until it ends its war against Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made that position after meeting his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, the previous week.

Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Witkoff and Kushner had made serious preparations for the trip. He said they expressed their continued interest in ending the fighting quickly and had put forward ideas about possible paths to a settlement.

Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow on September 5 after a business lunch with Dmitriev. They were expected in Kyiv on September 6. The Kremlin also announced that Putin had ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv beginning at midnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was prepared to halt airstrikes on cities involved in the negotiating process.

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They not only expressed their traditional interest in a speedy end to the fighting but also formulated a number of ideas regarding possible resolution paths.