"Ruthless and ambitious" - Putin's man behind the Ukraine plan - Kyiv-Born Financier Kirill Dmitriev’s Secret Role in Russia’s Ukraine War Diplomacy
Kirill Dmitriev, a Kyiv-born financier with deep ties to both Russian and Western elites, has long played a key role in Moscow’s dealings with Ukraine and the U.S. As head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, he became a central figure in international diplomacy—until sanctions cut off his access to global markets. Now, his leaked peace plan for Ukraine has drawn fresh attention to his influence.
Dmitriev was born and raised in Kyiv, the city now battered by nearly four years of Russian strikes. After studying at Stanford and Harvard Business School, he worked at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs before returning to Ukraine. From 2007 to 2011, he managed assets for Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, a role that brought him notice in Moscow’s financial circles.
His career took a sharp turn when he took charge of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a state-backed fund meant to lure foreign capital. The fund’s work halted in 2022 after the Biden administration imposed sanctions on it—and on Dmitriev personally—for propping up Russia’s economy following the invasion of Ukraine.
By then, Dmitriev had already built a reputation as Vladimir Putin’s go-to intermediary on U.S. and Ukraine policy. He served as the Russian counterpart to American envoy Steve Witkoff, a position that gave him direct access to high-level discussions. His connections ran deep: his wife is a close friend of Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, and he became a regular face on Russian state TV.
In 2016, he made contact with the incoming Trump administration, a move later documented in the Mueller Report. Around the same time, he pitched an ambitious idea—a tunnel beneath the Bering Strait to physically link Russia and the U.S. under Trump and Putin. More recently, he leaked a 28-point peace proposal to Axios, outlining many of Russia’s most demanding conditions for ending the war in Ukraine.
Dmitriev’s leaked plan reflects Moscow’s unyielding stance on Ukraine, reinforcing his role as a key voice in the Kremlin’s diplomatic strategy. With sanctions still in place, his ability to operate on the global stage remains severely limited. Yet his background—a mix of Western education, Ukrainian roots, and Russian loyalty—continues to shape his influence in ongoing negotiations.
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