Witkoff advances Kremlin’s interests; key peace plan points remain unresolved
Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin (Photo: Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS)
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has emerged as a key figure helping Russia corner Washington into forcing Ukraine to accept Moscow’s capitulation terms, based on thorough reporting by Bloomberg on Nov. 25, backed by transcripts of calls between Witkoff and senior Russian officials.
Senior Russian officials orchestrated a diplomatic
maneuver persuading Witkoff to present a list of the Kremlin’s demands as a
U.S.-backed peace plan to end the Russo–Ukrainian war. Bloomberg cites atranscript of an Oct. 29 phone call between Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy
adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev.
The two officials discussed a scheme to present a list of its own capitulation
demands as if it originated in the U.S. President Donald Trump’s
administration.
Witkoff personally advised Ushakov on how Putin
should engage with Trump to make the United States take a more pro-Russian
foreign policy stance. In an Oct. 14 phone call, Witkoff, speaking to Ushakov,
floated a joint “20-point” peace framework modeled on a recent Gaza ceasefire
agreement. He urged Ushakov to encourage Putin to raise the idea directly with
Trump. Additionally, the U.S. envoy suggested Putin should call Trump before
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House on Oct. 17.
Kyiv, Washington, and European capitals have made considerable
progress in amending the initial, heavily pro-Russian draft of the U.S.-backed
peace plan, into something that could be acceptable to both Ukraine and its
European partners. However, Ukraine still refuses to accept three key
provisions: ceding additional territory to Russia, limiting the size of the
Ukrainian military, and abandoning NATO membership aspirations.
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