WASHINGTON, DC – Bypassing diplomatic channels, a US Republican Congressional member from the House of Representatives announced Wednesday she will meet with a top Kremlin official, a move toward direct engagement with Moscow that has sharply divided Washington.
Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), a vocal adherent of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement and a frequent critic of foreign aid, posted on social media that she has officially confirmed a meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, Special Envoy to the Trump regime from the President of Russia, for later this month, but did not provide the time or venue.
Luna’s statement frames the highly sensitive talks as a continuation of President Trump’s long-stated objective to mend US-Russia relations.
She said that it is “important, not just for fellow Americans but for the world, to continue fostering the relationship and conversations of peace and trade between Russia” and the US, as President Trump has so openly called for.
Luna was also among a small group of lawmakers who recently attended a dinner hosted by Trump in the newly remodeled White House “Rose Garden.”
The Florida lawmaker and Trump acolyte doubled down on her controversial position, arguing that abandoning dialogue leads only to conflict.
She wrote that the two countries “do not need to be enemies, and allies in trade benefit everyone.”
Furthermore, she asserted that as elected officials, they owe it not just to their own people but to humanity to ensure that talk of peace and a willingness to extend an olive branch should be maintained and never end, as war is the default of failed policy.
Putin’s point man responds
The Russian envoy Luna is set to meet, Kirill Dmitriev, is not a career diplomat but a Harvard-educated CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
He is widely viewed as one of the Kremlin’s most critical backchannel intermediaries. Additionally, he is currently under US sanctions.
Dmitriev wasted no time in publicly acknowledging the development, using a social media platform to praise the US lawmaker’s initiative and promote the talks as essential to global stability.
Dmitriev posted a message, saying, “Dear Congresswoman Luna, thank you for your courageous stand for peace and dialogue.”
He said that the world depends on the US and Russia listening, understanding each other, and working together to address global challenges, and he looked forward to their meeting and constructive discussion.
Executive branch claims ignorance
The announcement immediately forced the Trump executive branch to distance itself from the unofficial foreign policy initiative.
The White House and the State Department were contacted by Kyiv Post regarding the meeting, but offered no official comment.
However, a senior Trump official, speaking to Kyiv Post on the condition of anonymity, sought to downplay the significance of the engagement, insisting that the meeting was in Luna’s personal capacity and was not coordinated with the executive branch.
This political distancing highlights the deep discomfort within Washington over the growing trend of lawmakers and non-traditional envoys from the MAGA camp pursuing their own foreign policy agenda with countries the US considers adversaries.
Critics fear that such direct contacts risk undermining the supposedly unified diplomatic front against Moscow and providing Putin with a significant political propaganda victory.