Russia and the U.S. have begun their own discussions on rare earth metals projects, according to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and Putin’s special envoy for international economic and investment cooperation.
“Rare earth metals are a key area for cooperation, and we have already started talks on various rare earth metals projects in Russia,” Dmitriev said in an interview with Izvestia.
He offered no further details about the specific projects or the individuals involved.
On February 24, Vladimir Putin held a meeting with top officials dedicated to the development of Russia’s rare earth metals industry. Afterwards, the Russian president said in an interview that Moscow “would be ready to offer cooperation to our American partners,” adding, “We certainly have far more resources of this kind — let me stress that — by orders of magnitude compared to Ukraine.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later clarified that the discussions focused on a "potential opportunity" for cooperation with the U.S. on rare earth metals. He noted, "There are vast opportunities for cooperation across various sectors and extensive territories of the Russian Federation, including the new regions," referring to the Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russia.