Report: U.S. Envoy Coached Putin Aide On How Russian Leader Should Pitch Trump On Ukraine Peace Plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump The Russian government’s chief interlocutor advised a senior aide last month: Vladimir Putin Views were exchanged on how the Russian leader should propose to the US president on a peace plan aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the text of the call published by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
According to the transcript of the Oct. 14 conversation published by the news service, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff advised Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that Putin should call Trump and congratulate him on the Gaza peace agreement, tell him that Russia supports it and respects the president as a man of peace.
“It’s going to be a really good meeting from now on,” Witkoff said, according to the transcript.
The Bloomberg report comes after Trump said Tuesday that his proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine had been accepted. “fine tuned” and announced sends Witkoff to meet Putin’s.
The White House did not dispute the accuracy of the transcript, and Trump described Witkoff’s reported approach to the Russians on the call as “standard” negotiating procedure.
“He needs to sell this to Ukraine. He needs to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew home to Florida on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
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However, Republican US Representative Don Bacon from Nebraska, who criticized Trump’s approach to Ukraine, said that the minutes showed that Witkoff was on the side of the Russians. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a paid Russian agent do less? He should be fired,” Bacon said on social media.
Bloomberg said he reviewed the recording of the call but did not say how he gained access to it. The Associated Press has not independently verified the text.
The Witkoff-Ushakov meeting took place a day after Trump’s triumphant visit to Israel and Egypt to celebrate the ratification of the Gaza ceasefire.
“Here’s what I think would be great,” Witkoff told his counterpart during the call, according to Bloomberg. “Maybe he’ll say to President Trump: You know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan for peace and that might be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to that kind of thing.”
Witkoff also suggested a Trump-Putin meeting before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House later that week, and suggested Putin congratulate Trump on the Gaza agreement as an entry point to the meeting. Ushakov acknowledged that Putin would “congratulate” and say “Mr. Trump is a real man of peace.”
Trump and Putin finally talked They met with each other a day before their White House meeting with US president Zelenskyy. Shortly after his meeting with Zelenskyy on October 17, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia should “stand where they are” on the battlefield, meaning that Ukraine should surrender territory that Russia seized from its neighbor.
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On October 29, Ushakov spoke by phone Kirill Dmitriev According to another recording reviewed by Bloomberg, Trump, one of Putin’s close advisers on Ukraine, discussed how strongly Moscow should meet its demands in a possible peace proposal.
Dmitriev reciprocated to Ushakov, saying, “I will convey this unofficially and make it clear that everything is unofficial. And let them do it their way.” “But I don’t think they will use our exact version, but at least it will be as close to it as possible.
The exchange occurred shortly after Dmitriev traveled to Florida for talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser, focused on establishing the framework of a 28-point peace plan.
The original plan, made public last week, appeared to be heavily skewed towards Russia’s demands and included calls for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region to Russia and significantly reduce the size of its army. It also included an agreement from Europe that Ukraine would never be allowed to join the NATO military alliance.
“This story proves one thing: Special Envoy Witkoff speaks almost daily with officials in both Russia and Ukraine to broker peace, which is exactly what President Trump charged him with,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement. he said.
In a social media post, Dmitriev said the text was “Fake” and in a second post he said: “The closer we get to peace, the more desperate the warmongers become.” The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that the proposal was written by the United States, with input from both Russians and Ukrainians, in response to bipartisan pushback in Washington that the leaked plan was merely a Russian wish list. The State Department declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
On Tuesday, Trump said he would send Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials after Witkoff met with Putin. Trump also said he may eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy until more progress is made in negotiations.
