Instructions on how to “sell” the peace plan a Donald Trump and total alignment regarding Kiev’s needs surrender territory to Russia. Phone call on October 14 between Steve WitkoffUS government special envoy, e Yuri Ushakovadviser to Vladimir Putin, gave rise to discussion. Revelation, published by Bloombergraises doubts about the role of the United States in the peace process for Ukraine and the true nature of the diplomatic initiatives undertaken by the White House.
According to the reconstruction, the talks were not limited to a simple confrontation between the two delegations. Instead, Witkoff will offer the real Ushakov communication strategy about how to present to Trump a peace plan designed to meet those goals Kremlin needs. This is the first point that makes the telephone conversation so controversial: a US representative advising a senior Russian official how to “praise” American President to guide his negotiating position.
Witkoff told Ushakov that Vladimir Putin he supposedly called Trump to congratulate him on the peace deal in Gaza, saying that Russia supported it and that he respected the president as a man of peace. “From then on, it will be a very positive telephone conversation,” the US envoy said. The news came as Trump on Tuesday said a proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine had been “done” and announced he would send Witkoff to meet Putin.
The phone call came a day after Trump’s triumphant visit to the US Israel And Egypt to celebrate achievements ceasefire in Gaza. “This is what I think is good,” Witkoff told his interlocutor in a second phone call Bloomberg. “Maybe he would say to President Trump: You know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point peace plan and this might be something that we think would shake things up a little bit, we’re open to that kind of thing.”
Witkoff also suggested holding a phone call between Trump and Putin before the Ukrainian president’s visit Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House at the end of the week and also advised Putin congratulate with Trump regarding the Gaza deal as a starting point for telephone talks. Ushakov agrees that Putin “will congratulate you” and would say that “Mr. Trump is a man of peace.” Trump and Putin finally spoke to each other a day before the US president held White House talks with Zelensky. Shortly after meeting with Zelensky on October 17, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia should “stop where I am” on the battlefield, which means Ukraine has to surrender the territory that Russia conquered from its neighbors.
The second element of friction is related to fill from the plan. Witkoff will outline the possibilities for peace based on territorial concessions from the Ukrainian side: “Now, I know what it takes to reach a peace agreement – said the US envoy to the Russian interlocutor -: Donetsk and maybe one area exchange a place.” A hypothesis that would partially fulfill Russia’s goals and would trample on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
The third controversial point concerns the legitimacy of the decision-making process. The alleged “20-point plan” – which later evolved, according to some sources, into a 28-point document – appears to have been circulating between Washington and Moscow without the formal involvement of Kiev or its European partners. Multilateral diplomacy, which was a pillar of previous mediation efforts, is now being replaced by multilateral diplomacy asymmetric bilateral negotiationscarried out far from the official table and with a purpose that does not appear neutral.
Moreover, the plan should not simply follow Moscow’s demands, but should appear as a White House initiative. According to other records reviewed by BloombergThat October 29 Ushakov then spoke on the phone with Kirill DmitrievPutin’s close adviser on Ukraine, and discussed with him how much Moscow should enforce its demands in a possible peace proposal. “I will pass it on informallyclarified that this was an informal matter. And I will let them do what they want,” Dmitriev told Ushakov during the conversation, “but I don’t think they will accept our version for sure, but at least it will happen. as similar as possible to us“.
This exchange occurred shortly after Dmitriev visited Florida for talks with Witkoff e Jared KushnerTrump’s son-in-law and his informal advisers, focused on creating a framework for a 28 point peace plan. Initial plans, announced last week, have emerged very unbalanced against Russia’s demands and including demands that Ukraine cede all territory Donbass to Russia and drastically reduced the size of its troops. It also includes a European agreement that Ukraine will never be allowed to join a military alliance Born.
Now Washington and Moscow are simultaneously defending Witkoff’s actions. The idea behind “leaking” phone call transcripts is to obstruct resumption of relations between Russia and the United States, Ushakov told TV journalist Pavel Zarubin of the TV channel this morning VGTRK“relationships are currently not easy to build, even over the phone.” “Someone leaked information, but it wasn’t us,” Putin’s adviser added.
“I haven’t heard anything – Trump’s comments -, but that’s one thing a very standard form of trading because he has to sell this agreement” to both parties. “Because each side has to give and take”, added the US president.
