Putin delayed for hours: Was the VIP treatment accorded to Witkoff and Kushner, Russia’s diplomatic ploy?

Though the five-hour-long Ukraine peace talks between Russia and the US envoy Steve  Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner yielded no fruit, the way the Americans were treated in Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin has set tongues wagging.

According to reports, Kushner and Witkoff received VIP treatment on their arrival in Russia. They were received by a motorcade from the airport, served lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and even took a stroll around Red Square, so much so that when they finally got down to business in the Kremlin, it was over six hours since their arrival in Russia.

According to local Russian media, Witkoff and Kushner sampled posikunchiki and  mushroom-filled ushki —traditional dishes from the Perm region of Russia. The spread was so extensive and included Russian dishes: 'Stolichny,' 'Mimosa,' 'Rassolye' salads,  'posikunchiki' with crab, pelmeni with mushrooms, quail stuffed with buckwheat, kulebyaka made with three types of fish, steamed halibut, and venison fillet.

As per RIA Novosti, Russia spent approximately 25,000 rubles on the meal.

Interestingly, when the Americans were killing time at Red Square, Putin was busy addressing the press at an investment forum where he unleashed a fresh round of accusations against Europe. He claimed that Ukraine's European allies were "to blame"  for "blocking the peace process" as they allegedly made demands unacceptable to the Kremlin. "We are not going to war with Europe, but if Europe decides to start a war, we are ready right now," he said.

And, finally, when Putin met Kushner and Witkoff, it was three hours past the scheduled time of 5 pm, as indicated by Putin's press secretary. The meeting ended only well after midnight local time.

Putin's interpreter was linguist Alexei Sadykov, who has worked with the Kremlin leader on numerous occasions. Following the scandal that erupted when Witkoff relied on a  Russian interpreter during his meeting with Putin in April, the American delegation approached the matter "more carefully" and brought American Tatyana Albert, who once  studied in Russia, condemned the Russian invasion, and has been cooperating with the US State Department since 2017, to the negotiations.  

The American team returned home early on Wednesday morning. An aircraft thought to be carrying Witkoff and Kushner flew out of Moscow early on Wednesday, Russian news  agencies reported. The agencies, quoting aviation sources, said a Bombardier
jet, which had arrived the previous day with Witkoff on board, had left the capital's Vnukovo airport. TASS news agency said the plane took off at about 2:02 a.m.