U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, fresh from the triumph of the Gaza peace deal, held a phone call last month with a senior Kremlin official to suggest they work together on a similar plan for Ukraine — and that Vladimir Putin should raise it with Donald Trump.
In an Oct. 14 phone call that lasted a little over five minutes, Witkoff advised Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, on how the Russian leader should broach the issue with Trump. His guidance included suggestions on setting up a Trump-Putin call before Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s White House visit later that week and using the Gaza agreement as a way in.
“We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you,” Witkoff told Ushakov, according to a recording of the conversation reviewed and transcribed by Bloomberg.
To read the full transcript of the call, click here.
A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, acknowledged receipt of a request for comment and didn’t immediately respond. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t immediately respond to comment.
The conversation for the first time offers direct insight into Witkoff’s recent tactics for negotiating with Russia and what appears to be the genesis of the 28-point peace proposal that emerged earlier this month – which the US has pushed Ukraine to accept as the basis of a deal.
Putin said this month he believed the US plan could be used as the basis for a peace settlement. He told senior officials at a meeting of the Russian Security Council that the 28-point plan had not been discussed in detail yet with the US, but that Moscow had received a copy of it.
At the time of the Witkoff-Ushakov call, Trump was basking in the success of his drive to end the war in Gaza. The day before, he’d become the first US president to address the Israeli Knesset since 2008 after securing the release of the final 20 living hostages held by Hamas. Play Video
Trump’s attitude toward Putin, however, appeared to be souring. As he prepared for his meeting with Zelenskiy on Oct. 17, he was considering providing Ukraine with longer-range Tomahawk missiles, discussing fresh sanctions on Russia and voicing his frustration with Putin.
“I don’t know why he continues with this war,” Trump said Oct. 14, the same day that Witkoff spoke with Ushakov. “He just doesn’t want to end that war. And I think it’s making him look very bad.”
During his call with Ushakov, Witkoff told his Russian counterpart that he had deep respect for Putin and that he had told Trump that it was his belief that Russia has always wanted a peace deal. The US envoy mentioned Zelenskiy’s upcoming visit and suggested that Putin could speak to Trump ahead of that meeting.
“Zelenskiy is coming to the White House on Friday,” Witkoff said. “I will go to that because they want me there, but I think if possible we have the call with your boss before that Friday meeting.”
Ushakov asked Witkoff whether it would be “useful” for Putin to call Trump. Witkoff said it would.
He also recommended that Putin congratulate Trump for the Gaza peace deal, say that 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.
“Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Witkoff then added. “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.”
Ushakov appeared to take some of the advice on board. Putin “will congratulate” and will say “Mr Trump is a real peace man,” he said.
Trump and Putin held their call two days later, at Russia’s request, and the US president described the two-and-a-half-hour-long conversation as “very productive.” Afterward, he announced plans to meet with the Russian leader in Budapest, a summit that is yet to take place, and also mentioned that Putin had congratulated him on the Gaza deal.
Following up on that call, Witkoff met with Kirill Dmitriev, another senior Kremlin adviser, in Miami, according to an interview that Dmitriev gave to Axios. Dmitriev told Axios he spent three days in Miami from Oct. 24. A spokesperson for Dmitriev declined to comment.
On Oct. 29, Dmitriev and Ushakov spoke by phone in Russian and debated how strongly Moscow should push for its demands in any peace proposal, according to another recording reviewed by Bloomberg.
To read a transcript of this call, click here.
As the two Putin aides considered various options, Ushakov argued for asking for “the maximum” in their submissions to the White House.
He said he was concerned the US might misinterpret any proposals and might take something out but then claim there was an agreement, and that would risk the end of the negotiations, he told his colleague.
Dmitriev, who also heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, suggested sharing a paper informally and said he was confident that even if the US didn’t completely take Russia’s version they would at least do something very close to it.
He later assured Ushakov that he would stick to what he was told to say, and that Ushakov could also discuss the paper later with “Steve.”
Bloomberg has been unable to confirm exactly what proposals Russia shared with the US and the extent to which they shaped the final 28-point blueprint.
Since then, however, Ukraine has come under severe pressure to accept the proposal that Witkoff drafted with the help of his Kremlin counterparts. US officials had threatened to shut off critical intelligence support to the Ukrainian military if Zelenskiy refused to accept the proposal, although Kyiv has since won some concessions and persuaded the US to slow down following talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio Sunday.
Under the terms first proposed by the US earlier this month, Ukraine would have to withdraw troops from parts of the eastern Donbas region that Russia has failed to capture through military force. The area would become a neutral demilitarized buffer zone internationally recognized as Russian.
Moscow would also obtain de facto recognition of Russian claims to the regions of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk. Most of the remainder of the front line, including in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, would be effectively frozen. Ukraine and its European allies have insisted that the war should cease along current lines.
Those are some of the conditions that Witkoff and Ushakov appear to preview during their call last month.
“Me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done,” Witkoff said. “Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere. But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here.”
“The president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal,” he added. “So if we can create that opportunity that after this I talked to Yuri and we had a conversation I think that could lead to big stuff.”
“Ok,” Ushakov replied. “That sounds good.”
Politics8 years ago