United States President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be taking steps to increase contact with key figures in Moscow, even as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues and US-backed peace efforts remain stalled.

The latest signs that the US wants to step up relations include a rare visit to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and the surprise appearance of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at a Group of 20 meeting hosted by the US on Monday.

However, this contact does not necessarily amount to a restoration of US-Russian relations, analysts said.

Washington continues to back sanctions against Moscow while it wages war on Ukraine and major differences over territory remain unresolved.

So what were these latest contacts about, and are US-Russian relations on the up?

The most significant meeting recently was Ratcliffe’s visit last week to Moscow, where he held talks with Russian intelligence officials.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin was informed about the discussions but did not personally meet Ratcliffe.

Trump described the visit as “semiroutine” and said it was connected to efforts to end the war in Ukraine. US media reported that Ratcliffe also raised concerns about a possible Russian attack on NATO members and Russia’s relationship with Iran.

Trump, who claimed he would end the Ukraine war within “24 hours” of starting his second presidential term in January 2025 but has since failed to broker an agreement, has generally sought to play down tensions between Washington and Moscow. After Ratcliffe’s visit, he said the CIA director had had “good talks” with Putin. “He’s not going to be attacking a NATO territory,” Trump said.

Despite that, Russia has warned recently that the United Kingdom could face “consequences” for supplying drones to Ukraine that have been used in long-range attacks inside Russian territory. “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which ⁠it will have to answer,” the Russian embassy in London said in a statement in mid-August. “The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kiev’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.”

Separately, Siluanov made a surprise appearance at a G20 finance ministers meeting in the US state of North Carolina for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Siluanov on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.

According to the Reuters news agency, Bessent made clear there would be no financial agreements or economic relief for Russia until the war ends.

What is the latest on US-Russian talks on Ukraine?

Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough remain bleak as neither side is willing to concede territory to the other. US-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks this year broke down chiefly over Moscow’s territorial demands. Moscow has demanded that Kyiv give up territory in eastern Ukraine while Kyiv has refused to surrender any land it still controls.

Last week, Ukraine’s top presidential adviser, Kyrylo Budanov, said talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the US could be happening “very soon”.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “detailed and constructive” discussions with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about a possible visit to Ukraine and efforts to advance the peace process.

In the meantime, the deadlock continues. Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange attacks, targeting each other’s energy infrastructure and fighting intense battles in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

On Tuesday, Russian air attacks killed 12 people and injured many more in Kyiv and surrounding areas, local authorities said. It was the sixth consecutive day of intense strikes on the capital.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Zelenskyy’s sanctions commissioner, told Reuters on Monday that he is due in the US capital on Tuesday on a trip that will include meetings with lawmakers.

Are US-Russian relations improving? If so, what does that mean?

The restoration of high-level contacts between the US and Russia began earlier in Trump’s second term.

In February, Washington and Moscow agreed to re-establish high-level military-to-military talks, which were suspended just before the Russian war on Ukraine began.

After the latest contacts, Keir Giles, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the think tank Chatham House, said evidence that “relations are being normalised between Washington and Moscow should deepen the sense of alarm”.

“The US treating Russia as a partner not an adversary is a fundamental problem for all those countries that are under direct threat from Moscow – not just Ukraine but America’s European allies too,” Giles told Al Jazeera.

Insiders have also warned that a rapprochement with Trump could further embolden Russia against NATO. In August after Moscow warned the UK of “consequences” for providing long-range missile components to Ukraine, former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov told the BBC that these “consequences” could include the possibility of attacks. He said many military experts advising the Kremlin are convinced that NATO would not respond forcefully if Russia were to hit the UK. “Trump will not allow NATO to answer,” he said.

This week, Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said he was unhappy to see Moscow represented at the G20 meeting on Monday. “We do not trust Russia. They lie constantly, and you need to be really, really cautious while discussing with them,” ⁠⁠he told Reuters.

On Tuesday, European Union economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis also said this is not the right moment to “normalise” Moscow’s participation in G20 gatherings. “I think the European position is known,” Dombrovskis told reporters on the sidelines of the North Carolina meeting.