Kremlin official says Russian, US interest in joint projects mark start of restoring ties

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The interest of Russian and US businesses in joint projects mark the beginning of restoring bilateral ties, a Kremlin official said on Monday.

In an interview with the daily Izvestia newspaper, Kirill Dmitriev, Moscow’s special envoy for foreign investment and economic cooperation, said Russia began talks with the US on the subject of rare earth metals projects.

According to Dmitriev, some companies have already shown interest in the projects, but gave no further details.

“Some of them (American businesses) are showing interest. There are no specifics here yet, but there is obviously interest,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Describing the interest as mutual, Peskov warned that this is only the initial stage of restoring their ties “after a period when our relations sank to their lowest point.”

“Therefore, considerable efforts are required to correct the situation,” Peskov said, adding that Russia continues to work with the US, first and foremost, on building their bilateral ties, which he said suffered “enormous” damage under the administration of former US President Joe Biden.

The spokesman said President Vladimir Putin remains open to contacts with his US counterpart Donald Trump, responding to the latter’s remarks that he would speak to Putin this week during an NBC News interview on Sunday.

Peskov also responded to Trump's remarks about being “very angry” at Putin over his comments criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's credibility, drаwing attention to the lack of direct quotes from the US president in the interview.

Both Moscow and Washington are working on implementing certain ideas reading a settlement for the Ukraine war, Peskov went on to say, noting that there are no specifics thus far.

He added that the Black Sea ceasefire agreed upon between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month still contained many details that need to be worked on.

Over the past weeks, the US brokered two separate agreements between Russia and Ukraine—one to “ensure safe navigation” in the Black Sea and another for a 30-day halt to strikes on each other’s energy facilities—following talks in Saudi Arabia.

Despite the deals, Moscow and Kyiv have since traded accusations of violating the pause on strikes against energy facilities.

- Le Pen conviction

Peskov also commented on the conviction of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, suggesting that "more and more European capitals are going down the path of trampling democratic norms."

"Of course, we do not want to interfere in the internal affairs of France, we have never done so ... But in general, our observations about European capitals indicate that they do not shy away from going beyond the bounds of democracy during the political process," Peskov said.

Le Pen, who was the front-runner in the 2027 presidential election, was convicted by a Paris court of embezzlement and subsequently barred from running for political office for five years.

The court also sentenced Le Pen to four years in prison, with two years suspended, and a fine of €100,000 (around $108,000).

Her National Rally party was also ordered to pay a fine of €2 million.