Trump envoy coached Putin aide on Ukraine peace plan
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s chief interlocutor with the Russian government last month advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on how the Russian leader should go about pitching the US president on a peace plan aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to a transcript of the call published by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, according to a transcript of the Oct. 14 call published by the news service, advised Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that Putin should call Trump to congratulate him for the Gaza peace deal, say Russia had supported it and that he respects the president as a man of peace.
“From that, it’s going to be a really good call,” Witkoff said according to the transcript.
‘Standard SOP’
The Bloomberg report came as Trump on Tuesday said a proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and announced he’s sending Witkoff to meet with Putin.
The White House did not dispute the veracity of the transcript, and Trump described Witkoff’s reported approach to the Russians in the call as “standard” negotiating procedure.
“He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
Bias to Russia
But US Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who has been critical of Trump’s approach to Ukraine, said the transcript showed Witkoff favors the Russians. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired,” Bacon said on social media.
Bloomberg said it reviewed a recording of the call, but did not say how it obtained access to the recording. The Associated Press (AP) has not independently verified the transcript.
The Witkoff-Ushakov call happened a day after Trump made a triumphant visit to Israel and Egypt to celebrate sealing the Gaza ceasefire.
20-point plan
“Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Witkoff said to his counterpart during the call, according to Bloomberg. “Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things.”
Witkoff also suggested setting up a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s White House visit later that week and suggested that Putin congratulate Trump on the Gaza agreement as an entry point into the call. Ushakov agreed that Putin “will congratulate” and will say “Mr. Trump is a real peace man.”
Trump-Putin talk
Trump and Putin ended up speaking to each other a day before the US president held White House talks with Zelenskyy. Shortly after that meeting with Zelenskyy on Oct. 17, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia should “stop where they are” on the battlefield—meaning Ukraine should concede territory Russia had seized from its neighbor.
On Oct. 29, Ushakov spoke by phone with Kirill Dmitriev—a close adviser to Putin on Ukraine—and debated how strongly Moscow should push for its demands in a prospective peace proposal, according to another recording reviewed by Bloomberg.
“I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do like their own,” Dmitriev told Ushakov in the back and forth. “But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.
The exchange happened soon after Dmitriev had traveled to Florida for talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser, that centered on creating the framework for a 28-point peace plan.
