US lawmaker pushes to ‘foster dialogue’ after talks with Russian MPs
Continued communication between the world’s two “greatest nuclear superpowers” is of utmost importance, US Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has said after a meeting with a Russian parliamentary delegation, adding that she would “foster… dialogue and push for peace” in relations with Moscow.
A delegation of Russian lawmakers led by United Russia MP Vyacheslav Nikonov, deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee, met a bipartisan group of US lawmakers at Luna’s invitation on Thursday. The talks were held at the Donald Trump Institute of Peace in Washington.
“As representatives of the world’s two greatest nuclear super powers, we owe our citizens open dialogue, ideas, and open lines of communication,” Luna said in a post on X after the meeting, adding that the two sides discussed “peace and bilateral relations.”
Today, for the first time in close to a 1/4 century, 5 members of Congress (bipartisan) met with 5 members of the Russian Duma to discuss peace and bilateral relations. As representatives of the world’s two greatest nuclear super powers, we owe our citizens open dialogue, ideas,… pic.twitter.com/Dv9eMP9e3C
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) March 26, 2026
The head of the Russian delegation said the talks went “better than expected,” adding that restoring contacts between the two nations’ legislatures is now “possible.” Another member of the delegation, vice speaker of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov, hailed the meeting as “an open and honest dialogue.” The sides covered “a large number of issues,” he said, calling the results “good.”
The Kremlin welcomed the meeting as a “necessary” and “very important” step. Moscow hopes the visit will help revive a major avenue of dialogue that has been “totally frozen” in recent years, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists earlier on Thursday, adding that it would be “in the interests of both Moscow and Washington.”
Parliamentary ties between the two nations remained virtually non-existent after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, when Washington sanctioned most Duma and Federation Council (upper house of the parliament) members, suspending formal contact and high-level visits.
Moscow and Washington began restoring dialogue after US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in early 2025. However, there had been no in-person meetings between Russian and the US lawmakers until Thursday.
The meeting was announced on Wednesday by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who called the dialogue between the lawmakers “vital” for global stability. The Russian parliamentary delegation landed in New York the same day.
The Trump administration has also sought to mediate the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, but trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine talks remain paused because of the Iran war. According to Peskov, negotiations will continue as soon as all sides align their schedules.
