The Kremlin's investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said Moscow and Washington have started talks on exploring rare earth metals in Russia. He made the comments in an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia published on Monday.



Dmitriev, who leads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said rare earths were an "important area for cooperation." He added that the two sides have started talking about "various rare earth metals and projects in Russia."



In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered the US the opportunity to jointly develop his country's rare earth resources, referring to the four Ukrainian regions under its control.



Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said some American companies have "expressed interest." But he added there were no specifics yet, because sanctions were still in place.