Kushner and Putin adviser Dmitriev discussed US investor in Nord Stream pipelines, five sources say

Top US and Russian officials have talked about bringing an American investor into the Nord Stream gas pipelines, according to five people with knowledge of the matter who spoke to Reuters in an exclusive report published October 8.

The talks involved US Special Envoy Jared Kushner and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the sources said. Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and has been trying to broker a truce between Russia and Ukraine.

The idea, per those sources, is that a deal would let US investors profit from energy flows to Europe once the war ends. Kushner views doing business as central to restoring peace, they said.

What is and isn't established

Kushner and Dmitriev have met in Moscow and New York in recent weeks. Two of the five sources said the topic remains on the agenda.

The White House gave a narrower account. "Any deals will have to be negotiated by Russia with DFC (US International Development Finance Corporation) and Treasury and must benefit United States taxpayers and companies," a White House official said. The same official said there had been "no Nord Stream discussions recently."

Those two accounts sit side by side. The sources say the subject is still live. The White House says it has not come up lately. Neither side has put a document or a named participant behind its version.

A separate fact is on the record: Dmitriev, who has campaigned for resuming Russian gas sales to Germany, met last month with representatives of the US Energy and Treasury departments to discuss potential US-Russia energy initiatives. A representative for Dmitriev declined to comment.

The legal wall

The pipelines are sanctioned by both the US and the EU, which makes any restart illegal. A US official said that given those obstacles, a deal is unlikely in the medium term.

Trump could waive or soften US sanctions. EU sanctions are a separate matter, and the bloc's members are not Trump's to waive.

The politics in Washington cut both ways. If Democrats win control of Congress in next month's midterm elections, Reuters reports, a sanctions waiver would become harder to pull off. It remains unclear how interested the administration actually is in restarting Russian gas flows to Germany.

Berlin says no

Germany, Europe's biggest energy consumer, is not asking for this. A spokeswoman for the economy and energy ministry said Nord Stream and Russian gas are sanctioned in Europe and that Germany has found alternatives. Reopening the pipelines would require government approval, she said, and this was not desired.

Germany's governing coalition opposes a restart. The Alternative for Germany party wants the pipelines reopened. Reuters reports Dmitriev is due to meet AfD leadership early next year.

Before Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Germany bought more than half its gas from Russia through the two Nord Stream lines. They were mothballed after Moscow throttled supply to Europe. Both were hit by a series of underwater explosions in September 2022.

European suspicion

The talks are unfolding against deep mistrust in European capitals. Earlier this year, the heads of five European spy agencies told Reuters that Russia did not want to end the war quickly and was using the US talks to push for business deals instead.

That is the European intelligence view, not an established finding. The US side's stated rationale runs the other way. Kushner, according to the sources, sees commercial ties as a way to give Russia a stake in a settlement. The White House line is that any deal must benefit US taxpayers and companies and run through the DFC and Treasury.

Europe's concern is not abstract. Governments there are spending billions of euros rebuilding their militaries to defend themselves from Russia. Reopening a Russian gas pipeline, even with American money in it, would cut against that.

What to watch

The ownership structure itself is a hurdle. The Reuters report flags ownership questions around the pipelines but, per the details available, no investor has been named and no terms have been disclosed. The White House has not said whether Trump would consider a sanctions waiver for Nord Stream. Nobody has confirmed what a US stake would look like or who would hold it.

Two dates frame what comes next. The midterms next month will determine whether Congress could obstruct any waiver. Dmitriev's expected meeting with AfD leadership early next year will show whether Moscow is working the German political track in parallel with the American one.