Pro-Trump US lawmaker to meet with Putin's envoy this month

U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a right-wing Republican from the state of Florida, will meet with Russian Envoy Kirill Dmitriev in October to "foster...conversations of peace and trade" between the U.S. and Washington, Luna announced Oct. 8.

Luna, a staunch supporter of  U.S. President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, has consistently opposed American aid to Ukraine. In 2023, she co-sponsored the "Ukraine Fatigue Resolution," a congressional bill demanding an end to U.S. military and financial support to Kyiv.

Luna announced that she has confirmed a meeting with Dmitriev later this month, though she did not disclose the date of their meeting. Dmitriev, the Kyiv-born head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, was appointed by Putin as special envoy for economic affairs to lead Moscow's outreach to the Trump administration.

"It is important, not just for my fellow Americans, but to the world, that we continue to foster the relationship and conversations of peace and trade between Russia and the United States as President Trump has so openly called for," Luna wrote on X.

"Our two countries do not need to be enemies. Allies in trade benefit everyone. I know I am not the only member of Congress or American who believes that maintaining this open dialogue is essential."

Luna's office told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti in September that the representative was trying to arrange talks "between members of the Russian parliament and the U.S. Congress at a neutral location," though the topic of the meeting was not specified.

In a September interview with NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo, Luna said that she had spoken to Russian government officials about UFO records and hoped to discuss the matter further at a future bipartisan meeting with members of the Russian parliament.

In August, Luna told the podcast host Joe Rogan that Congress has seen evidence of "interdimensional beings."

Luna has repeatedly voted against U.S. military aid packages to Ukraine. "Not one more dollar should go to this country," she said in 2023.

The congresswoman's announcement comes hours after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that "cracks have reached the foundation" of the U.S.-Russia relationship and that Trump-brokered peace efforts had lost momentum.

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The Kyiv IndependentTania Myronyshena