FT learns about secret contacts between Trump representative and Kremlin to break diplomatic deadlock
Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, held meetings with Kremlin representatives during a trip to Russia in June as part of a non-public diplomatic mission. Before the trip he received a diplomatic passport, underwent detailed briefings, and in Russia he was accompanied by the Diplomatic Security Service, the Financial Times reports, citing people familiar with the situation.
Cook heads the federal Commission of Fine Arts, which, among other things, participates in reviewing architectural projects in Washington. He is currently also involved in the controversial project to expand the White House with a new ballroom.
In June, Cook led the American delegation at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Officially his trip was presented as a cultural visit, but according to the FT, Washington viewed this atypical envoy as one of the ways to overcome the diplomatic deadlock surrounding Russia's war against Ukraine.
Among the Russian officials Cook met was Vladimir Putin's adviser Anton Kobyakov. The sides discussed possibilities for restoring contacts between the U.S. and Russia. Cook himself declined to tell the FT whether Donald Trump had tasked him with such negotiations or whether he plans new trips to the Russian Federation.
Rubio said he did not know about the delegation
The story is notable because at the time of the forum the American administration did not publicly confirm the diplomatic nature of the trip. In June, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he knew nothing about an official American delegation at SPIEF.
Now the FT asserts that before the trip Cook received a diplomatic passport and a series of briefings, and during his stay in St. Petersburg he was provided with protection by the Diplomatic Security Service. This indicates that Washington attached much greater significance to his visit than emerged from public statements in June.
Cook became the first American official to visit the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum since 2018. The U.S. stopped sending representatives to the forum even before Russia's full-blown invasion of Ukraine, and after 2022 such contacts became even more politically sensitive.
Cook passed Putin greetings from Trump
During the forum, Cook took part in the discussion "Russia - U.S.: Dialogue of Cultures," where he spoke about his long-standing ties with Russian cultural institutions and his projects for restoring historic buildings.
The next day he addressed Putin directly and passed him greetings from Trump. The Russian leader asked to convey a reply to the American president. According to Cook, he also brought to Washington a hockey puck linked to that conversation and placed it on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.
Separately, Cook promoted the idea of using cultural contacts as a pretext for a ceasefire. In particular, he spoke about the music of Dmitri Shostakovich and proposed using cultural diplomacy to create conditions for a truce and a subsequent agreement.
A White House representative told the FT that the U.S. continues to engage with both sides, trying to help end the war, and Trump remains optimistic about the possibility of an agreement. At the same time, Washington officially characterizes Cook's participation in SPIEF as a trip to develop bilateral cultural ties.
