Putin's envoy believes there may be peace in Ukraine within year

RIYADH, Oct 30 (Reuters): Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia that he expected the war in Ukraine to end within a year.
Dmitriev was speaking after meeting officials from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration in the United States last weekend. His visit there followed an announcement that a summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest had been postponed.
"We are sure that we are on the road to peace and as peacemakers we need to make it happen," Dmitriev, who is also the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told an investment conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Asked whether peace in Ukraine was possible within one year, Dmitriev said: "I believe so."
While in the U.S. Dmitriev said that Moscow and Washington were close to a "diplomatic solution" to the war, which began in February 2022 when Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
Dmitriev is part of Putin's negotiating team in talks with the U.S., alongside Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
While Dmitriev was visiting the U.S., Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called him a "Russian propagandist" for saying in interviews with U.S. media that new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil firms would lead to higher prices at American gas stations.
On Wednesday Dmitriev reiterated Russia's warning that U.S. sanctions will lead to higher global oil prices and increased fuel prices in the U.S., suggesting this could impact the Republican Party's performance in the midterm elections.
Dmitriev said that Bessent's remarks had played in his favour at home, where he has sometimes come under fire from Russian nationalists for seeking greater cooperation with the Trump administration and promoting peace with Ukraine.