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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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U.S. envoy Jared Kushner’s Moscow meeting with Vladimir Putin on Thursday is his fourth with the Russian president this year, as questions continue to swirl about the approach and diplomatic expertise of Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
There was no breakthrough in the U.S.-led trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi with Russian and Ukrainian delegations that ended on Wednesday, although a prisoner swap was agreed.
Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff teased more progress could be made when they meet the Russian president at the Kremlin, although neither Kyiv nor Moscow are prepared to budge on territorial claims.
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"I do not expect any diplomatic breakthroughs," Giorgi Revishvili, a military analyst who produces the Russia Analyzed Substack told Newsweek. “(Putin) has little interest in engaging in genuine peace negotiations."
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When Did Kushner Meet Putin?
Before Thursday, Kushner had met Putin two times this year face to face with Witkoff and on a third occasion virtually.
In none of the meetings has Putin rowed back from demands that Ukraine withdraw from its eastern Donbas region where its critical Fortress Belt of cities is located. Such a concession is unacceptable for Kyiv.
The first meeting took place at the Kremlin on January 22 for talks which lasted four hours.
Putin was accompanied by his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, and his envoy for international economic affairs, Kirill Dmitriev.
There was no tangible progress toward peace, but Russia did agree to participate in U.S.-Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi.
Ushakov described the discussions as substantive and constructive but added "without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, one should not count on achieving a long-term settlement."
This referred to Putin’s meeting with Trump in Alaska on August 15, 2025.
The next meeting between Putin and Kushner was on 5 September at the Kremlin. Ushakov and Dmitriev also attended the three-hour meeting at the Kremlin, which was followed by dinner with the Russian leader.
The White House reported that Ushakov said Witkoff and Kushner had promised to use "the observations and assessments they received personally" from Putin for the subsequent negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The U.S. envoys went to Kyiv the following day for talks with Zelensky.
Putin has said little publicly about Kushner as an individual but following the meeting he said "we find it comfortable to work with you, and, of course, we have a very high level of trust during this work."
He also said that "the quality of mediation and trust in those who are engaged in it are very important" and described contacts with Witkoff and Kushner as "always beneficial."
A third round of talks took place on October 21, when Witkoff met Putin in person at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, while Kushner attended virtually.
What Has Kushner Said About Putin?
Kushner has spoken about Putin in positive terms, saying after their September 5 meeting that talks had been "very constructive and substantive" and that there was "a very good dialogue."
"From President Putin's perspective, I think he has certain objectives that he expresses he wants to achieve," Kushner said, adding Putin had other "aspirations" for Russia that could be achieved once the war was over.
Kushner also said that Putin was very committed to a deal and described Trump’s approach as seeking a "win-win," which looked at "what Russia can gain from it, what Ukraine can gain, and what the world can gain."
But critics said this glossed over the fact that the war began with Russia’s invasion of its European neighbor.
Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, took exception to Kushner's rhetoric and urged him to use a different metaphor.
"Mr. Kushner, Putin started this war. Speaking in the language of win-win business deals about war and peace means that you are ready to reward military conquest and the slaughter of innocents," said McFaul in a statement on X.
Putin critic and opposition figure Garry Kasparov posted on X: "There's no 'win-win' with cancer. Putin's 'aspirations' are the destruction of Ukraine and perpetual war on Europe. We know that because that is what he's doing."
Former British diplomat Nigel Gould-Davies said that the September 5 meeting showed that neither Kushner nor Witkoff "understand the nature of the war or what is needed to end it."
Gould-Davies wrote in a piece for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) that the meeting "was Groundhog Day."
He continued: "Russia repeated the same formula as in previous rounds of fruitless talks—effusive warmth, maximalist demands and complete inflexibility."
There appears little optimism for a breakthrough at present.
Revishvili from Russia Analyzed said: "Putin still believes he can achieve a military victory, that Russia can outlast Western support for Ukraine, and that by terrorizing the Ukrainian civilian population through daily bombardments, he can undermine Ukrainian resistance."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Henry Holloway and Tony Phillips.
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