A person from the innermost circle was supposed to pull the wool over Donald Trump's eyes during his last visit and avert a new portion of sanctions. Instead, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, has now raised the question: is it not time to apply sanctions against Kirill himself?When the Russian delegation first went to negotiations in Riyadh, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and a friend of Putin's younger daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, was indeed finding the keys to Donald Trump. It was he who enticed American oil companies with the idea that they should resume work in Russia. And he generously promised Washington access to Russian minerals and joint projects worth billions of dollars in the Arctic.It is worth admitting that in the spring of 2025, the American president was indeed confident that Putin would easily agree to negotiations and the Russian-Ukrainian war would end in literally a day. Because, firstly, what idiot would refuse American technologies, without which it is hardly possible to drill anything among the glaciers of the Arctic. Secondly, Trump was truly captivated for a long time by the myth of the Russian leader who never loses and does whatever he wants. However, after a lecture about Rurik and a single people and the proposal to "end the war and we will lift the sanctions," even his patience ran out. "That is why Trump matured to the first significant sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil. And here, the compliments and promises of joint projects from Dmitriev and the flurry of compliments towards Trump no longer worked."Therefore, it is logical that the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, understood what was behind this flattery, and that the needle is precisely in the revenues from oil and gas."If you analyze all the statements of Russian officials, you can notice that they use the expression 'we have immunized the economy against sanctions.' But they have not immunized the economy. Their oil revenues have decreased by 20% compared to last year. I suspect that this could lead to an even greater decrease of 20 or 30%," replied one of the American president's closest associates.So the only thing Dmitriev was remembered for this time were the candies with quotes from the Russian dictator, which he offered to the American elites to try.The fact that the star of the Russian negotiating group has acquired a toxic reputation for many years to come and memes with suspicious confectionery is a big plus for us. Because Dmitriev not only has diplomas from Harvard and experience working at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs, he was until recently the owner of a Ukrainian passport due to the fact of his birth in Kyiv and his experience working for the structures of Viktor Pinchuk. In 2008-2009, when the level of Russification of Ukrainian media was simply threatening, they tried to promote Dmitriev in the role of a bridge for the two peoples - he was even dragged onto the main political show ShusterLive, where he became a resident for a whole season and talked about the "economic famine" if Ukraine refused ties with Russia.That is why it was profitable to sell him not only to the Americans as an incredible investment banker with fluent English. But it was also possible to pass off the former Kyivan Kirill as the right "Ukrainian" who would definitely unite everyone into one people and agree on the terms of peace that Russia wants.Moreover, until the spring of 2022, Dmitriev had a long-term business with the wife of the head of the Verkhovna Rada's energy committee and a representative of the Servant of the People party, Andrii Herus. This well-known politician, in fact, until the beginning of the full-scale invasion, lobbied for the purchase of electricity from Belarus and Russia. So this was also a beacon for our negotiators - we know about your interests and affairs behind our backs."Dmitriev's fall in the United States is beneficial not only for the negotiations on ending the war. Putin's entourage also considered him as a possible leader in case the current dictator dies. And the West would again have to be sold the fairy tale that Russia has changed and that it is possible to trade with it again urgently."If Dmitriev had succeeded this time in selling a postponement of sanctions through Stephen Witkoff, his stock among the "Kremlin towers" would have grown significantly. But as it is, fortunately for us, he will have the reputation of a person who, in the absence of sound arguments, resorted to the tactics of threats and promises to hit them over the head with a club. Such a successful turn is a card that is falling into our hands. However, we must remember the moments that undermine trust in us, and which our American diplomat Stefanishyna will definitely have to explain to Rubio or Vance. This is the pressure on NABU and SAPO for investigating the corruption of close associates and cronies of Bankova. These are the fresh suspicions against the former head of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, who has high authority among international donors. And finally, there is a serious question of what to do with the improper powers of the head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, about whom conservative newspapers are publishing new articles with uncomplimentary epithets.Donald Trump, meanwhile, says that the war in Ukraine will certainly be settled. And that his warm relations with Putin did not work. So our personal task is to find points of contact with Vance, and with Rubio, and with any Republican devil who will be in the negotiating group to encourage Russia to go for a winding down of the war.The majority of voters of both American parties are in favor of continuing to help Ukraine and stopping the curtsies to Putin. So our small mission for the future is to not get into a scandal anywhere, to stop Americanophobia, and to definitely study the case of Kirill Dmitriev. How to go to negotiations on a high horse, but to do it in such a way that you are eventually equated with Skabeeva and Solovyov. Simple propagandists in the service of the Kremlin for big money.Especially for EspresoAbout the author: Maryna Danyliuk-Yarmolaieva, journalist, editor-in-chief of espreso.tv.The editors do not always share the views expressed by the authors of the blogs.