A group of Russian legislators has arrived in the United States for scheduled talks with U.S. lawmakers and then with U.S. government officials, Russian media reported. This marks the first such visit since relations between the two nuclear-armed powers deteriorated sharply following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russian outlets named Vyacheslav Nikonov as a member of the delegation; Nikonov is identified in those reports as the grandson of Vyacheslav Molotov, who served as foreign minister under Josef Stalin. According to media accounts cited in Russia, the delegation will meet with members of the U.S. Congress on Thursday and hold further meetings with U.S. officials on Friday.
Alexei Chepa, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, described the trip as "part of the normalisation of relations with the United States of America," according to Russian press coverage. The Kremlin has generally welcomed signs of closer ties between Washington and Moscow.
Russian media also reported that a special Russian flight had landed in Washington and that the visiting lawmakers were believed to be aboard. Those reports could not be immediately independently confirmed.
The visit follows a period in which Russian officials said relations with Washington had reached their lowest point in living memory after the 2022 invasion. Reports in Russia note that ties between the two capitals have improved since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and pursued an agenda aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
In January, U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna said she had received authorisation from the State Department for four Russian lawmakers to meet members of Congress. Russian media coverage has linked that earlier authorisation to the current delegation's meetings.
Observers in Kyiv and among European backers of Ukraine have expressed concern about any rapprochement between Washington and Moscow. Those anxieties relate to how improved U.S.-Russia relations could affect diplomatic and security support for Ukraine.
In an interview, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the United States was offering security guarantees for a possible peace deal on condition that Kyiv cede the entirety of the eastern Donbas region to Russia. That assertion was reported in press coverage of the interview.