{"id":27499,"date":"2026-08-18T15:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=27499"},"modified":"2026-08-18T15:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:35:44","slug":"rodni-kuk-zustrichi-kremlem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/politics\/rodni-kuk-zustrichi-kremlem\/","title":{"rendered":"A representative of Trump met with Kremlin officials in St Petersburg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">Rodney Mims Cook Jr, Chair of the US Commission on Fine Arts, visited St Petersburg this summer at Donald Trump\u2019s initiative and held private meetings with Kremlin representatives, including Anton Kobyakov. The US had hoped that this channel would help to revitalise negotiations regarding Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The FT reported on Rodney Cook\u2019s private contacts with the Kremlin.<\/li>\n<li>According to the newspaper, the trip was initiated by Donald Trump.<\/li>\n<li>Cook allegedly held a diplomatic passport and had received special training.<\/li>\n<li>The visit was officially presented as participation in a cultural round-table discussion.<\/li>\n<li>The American side had hoped to keep the talks on the war in Ukraine going.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Travelling on a diplomatic passport<\/h2>\n<p>Pros. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d88a8878-425d-4225-bda4-576c6c42734e?syn-25a6b1a6=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data<\/a> According to the Financial Times, prior to his trip, Cook was issued with a diplomatic passport and received special briefings. The visit took place against the backdrop of Washington\u2019s efforts to find ways to advance negotiations on ending Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Cook chairs the US Commission on the Fine Arts \u2014 an independent federal advisory body. The Commission advises the US government on design, architecture and public spaces; it does not perform traditional diplomatic functions.<\/p>\n<h2>A public cultural event and contacts with the Kremlin<\/h2>\n<p>Officially, the trip was described as a \u00abcultural visit\u00bb. The public part of the visit took place on <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/ataka-naftovyi-terminal-peterburg-drony\/\">St Petersburg International Economic Forum<\/a>: On 4 June, Cook took part in a two-hour round-table discussion entitled \u00abRussia\u2013US: A Dialogue of Cultures\u00bb.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the FT reports that whilst in Russia, he met with Kremlin officials. Among them, the newspaper named Anton Kobyakov, who is listed on the Kremlin\u2019s website as an adviser to the President of the Russian Federation and a special representative for international cooperation in the transport sector.<\/p>\n<p>Also taking part in the forum discussion were Olga Lyubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation; Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the Hermitage; Valery Gergiev, conductor; and Vladimir Legoyda, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n<p>According to the FT, the US believed that informal contacts could help to move the peace talks forward. These discussions took place alongside the official talks in which representatives from Ukraine, the US and Russia had previously taken part.<\/p>\n<p>Cook himself declined to comment on his meetings with Russian officials.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rodney Cook visited St Petersburg on a diplomatic passport and met with representatives of the Kremlin. The trip was described as a cultural visit.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433355,"featured_media":27498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0420\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0456 \u041a\u0443\u043a \u0432\u0456\u0434\u0432\u0456\u0434\u0430\u0432 \u041f\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0431\u0443\u0440\u0433 \u0456\u0437 \u0434\u0438\u043f\u043b\u043e\u043c\u0430\u0442\u0438\u0447\u043d\u0438\u043c \u043f\u0430\u0441\u043f\u043e\u0440\u0442\u043e\u043c \u0442\u0430 \u0437\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0456\u0432\u0441\u044f \u0437 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0430\u043c\u0438 \u041a\u0440\u0435\u043c\u043b\u044f. \u041f\u043e\u0457\u0437\u0434\u043a\u0443 \u043d\u0430\u0437\u0432\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u043a\u0443\u043b\u044c\u0442\u0443\u0440\u043d\u0438\u043c \u0432\u0456\u0437\u0438\u0442\u043e\u043c.","rank_math_title":"\u041f\u043e\u0457\u0437\u0434\u043a\u0430 \u0420\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0456 \u041a\u0443\u043a\u0430 \u0434\u043e \u041f\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0431\u0443\u0440\u0433\u0430 \u0456 \u0437\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0456\u0447\u0456 \u0437 \u041a\u0440\u0435\u043c\u043b\u0435\u043c","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0420\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0456 \u041a\u0443\u043a","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805617],"tags":[806756],"class_list":["post-27499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-806756"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27500,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27499\/revisions\/27500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}