We brought you reports earlier that senior Russian negotiator is Kirill Dmitriev is expected to visit Washington this week (see post at 6.51am).
The Kremlin has now said that the visit is "possible" and that contacts with the US were continuing.
So what do we know about the Kremlin official?
Born in Kyiv, in Soviet Ukraine, Kirill Dmitriev is the chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
He studied at Stanford University in California and was later awarded an MBA with distinction at Harvard.
After Stanford, he worked at Goldman Sachs in New York before moving to Moscow, where he worked as CEO for Delta Private Equity Partners, an investment management company.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, led by Dmitriev since 2011, organised the production of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US sanctioned him and cast him as "a known Putin ally".
He was not sanctioned by the European Union.
But CNN reported that the US will temporarily lift the sanctions for his visit.
Why is he an important figure?
Dmitriev has regular meetings with Putin and also has close relations to some key members of the Trump team.
He played a role in early contacts with the US when Trump was first elected president in 2016, as well as in building relations with Saudi Arabia, having met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman dozens of times.
He also met US special envoy Steve Witkoff when he visited Moscow.