The talks opened in front of the press. Witkoff said he hoped Putin would consider resuming three-way negotiations between Russia, the United States and Ukraine to work through technical issues.
Before flying to Russia, Witkoff held talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He described them as productive and said a "necessary groundwork" for a ceasefire had emerged. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, summing up the consultations, said "real progress at two levels" had been achieved. The discussions, he said, covered air defence, energy facilities and the possibility of a partial ceasefire.
Sources cited by Axios said the sides in Oslo reached "a complete mutual understanding at the working level" on further steps and focused on drafting a framework agreement to end the war that would be put to Russia.
At the St Petersburg meeting, Putin announced that Russia had released US citizen Stephen Hubbard. Witkoff, on behalf of US President Donald Trump, thanked the Kremlin for the so-called diesel deal. Putin said the first tankers of diesel fuel would leave for the United States in two to three days and offered to supply large volumes of fertiliser to the American market.
Hubbard is 74 and an English teacher by profession. He settled in the Ukrainian city of Izyum in 2014. According to the Russian prosecution, he signed a contract with Ukraine's territorial defence in 2022 and fought on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces before being taken prisoner. In 2024 he was sentenced to six years and ten months in a penal colony under a charge of participating in the war as a mercenary.
Jared Kushner, the US president's son-in-law, who usually accompanies Witkoff on trips, did not travel to Russia because of illness but took part in the meeting by video link. Putin also suggested to Witkoff that they discuss a possible meeting with Trump in China.