Russian and US lawmakers meet in Washington, the talks that are

For the first time in years, Russian lawmakers have met with members of the US Congress.

The Kremlin views the meeting held in Washington on Thursday (March 26) as positive. A representative from the state of Florida and the US State Department reported this information.

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, said on social media that a five-member delegation from the Russian parliament (Duma) met with a bipartisan US delegation. She said that the meeting discussed peace and bilateral relations.

She said that as representatives of the world's two largest nuclear powers, our responsibility to our citizens is to maintain open dialogue, exchange of views and open lines of communication.

She added that this dialogue will continue with the aim of establishing peace.

Luna's post published a photo of her and other colleagues with the Russian delegation. The photo was taken during their meeting at the headquarters of the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, the building recently renamed after Trump.

In another post on social media, Russian economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev called the meeting “historic.”

The meeting comes at a time when US-brokered talks aimed at reaching a deal to end the war in Ukraine have virtually stalled.

Several rounds of talks have failed to make any progress since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House 14 months ago, with the Kremlin refusing to make any concessions to halt their four-year campaign.

A US State Department spokesman confirmed the visit to members of Congress and the Duma.

The Kremlin had previously announced the visit to Russian lawmakers, saying the aim was to revive relations between Moscow and Washington.

“We hope that these initial initiatives will certainly contribute to the further development of our bilateral relations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Leonid Slutsky, head of Russia’s hardline Liberal Democratic Party, named the three members of the Russian delegation. They are deputy speaker of parliament Boris Chernyshov and lawmakers Vyacheslav Nikonov and Svetlana Zhurova.

All of the lawmakers in the Russian parliament’s “rubber-stamp parliament” are loyal to the Kremlin and support the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had set the “main directions” of the visit and would be briefed on the details after their meeting in the United States.

AFP news agency.