Reaction of an aide to the Russian president Yuri Ushkov following a meeting between Vladimir Putin, the special envoy of the US presidents Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (November 12, 2026).
Yuri Ushkov: Good evening, friends.
You are all certainly aware that Russian President Vladimir Putin received today the special envoy of US Presidents Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
The conversation was very substantial, constructive, open and fruitful - just like all their previous conversations.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Russian president made several important statements in the presence of the press, which set the tone for the discussion that followed.
It should be noted that the American negotiators actively supported the proposal of the Russian presidents to apply the approach used in the successful humanitarian operation in Alsheki to another city across the contact line, namely Konstantinovka.
We are ready to start mine clearance operations immediately.
The Russian president again supported the proposal of the American parties to move towards solving security problems for both Russia and Ukraine as part of efforts to shape a future post-conflict system of European security.
The President recalled our vision of the pillars of the indivisible security architecture, which we presented back in 2021 in the form of draft agreements with the United States and NATO on security guarantees.
These include:
Non-expansion of the NATO bloc.
Not placing threatening weapon systems near Russia's borders.
A return to the configuration of the alliance forces as it stood when the Russia-NATO Basic Law was signed.