‘Ruthlessly ambitious’ Harvard-educated head of Russia’s wealth fund in ascendancy despite little diplomatic experience

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When relations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin soured this autumn, with the US president publicly accusing Moscow of blocking a path to a peace in Ukraine and announcing significant sanctions against Russia’s oil sector, one man saw an opening.

Kirill Dmitriev, the US-savvy Harvard-educated head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, boarded a plane to Florida late October, where he met Steve Witkoff, the property developer serving as Trump’s freelance envoy on Ukraine.