A leaked phone call revealed a top aide of President Trump helped coach the Russians on how to win the commander in chief over with flattery while navigating negotiations on a Ukraine peace deal, according to a report.
The call between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Oct. 14, discussed the possibility of Putin and Trump hopping on a phone call to discuss a peace plan, according to the transcript of a recording obtained by Bloomberg.
On the five-minute call, Witkoff advised Ushakov to instruct Putin to congratulate Trump and open the conversation with some complimentary remarks.
“I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace, and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen,” Witkoff said.
“Hey Steve, I agree with you that he will congratulate, he will say that Mr. Trump is a real peace man, and so and so. That he will say,” Ushakov said, appearing to take the suggestion.
Witkoff also laid out how he believed the peace deal would be accomplished, maintaining he thought that land concessions were necessary.
“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” Witkoff told Ushakov.
“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,” he continued.
Witkoff, who helped broker the 20-point Gaza peace plan, suggested to Ushakov that Moscow and Washington emulate that deal.
“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 said.
The call came days before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House for discussions. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Credit: Daniel Torok |
US president’s special envoy has demonstrated a lack of experience after a leaked Kremlin call revealed him coaching a top Putin aide
Donald Trump arrived in office as the dealmaker-in-chief.
He has delighted in choosing unconventional figures to lead negotiations in the belief that a background in the nitty-gritty of New York real estate is more useful than a career in international relations wonkery.
It meant Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, were not constrained by decades of bloody stalemate in Gaza. Instead they confounded critics by delivering a ceasefire in the territory, even if it has not completely silenced the guns nor found much progress yet towards a longer term peace.
But Mr Witkoff’s lack of experience may now have been badly exposed in the leak of an extraordinary phone call with a senior Kremlin official.
Who leaked it and why will have to wait for another day. (Although there are obvious suspects in a Russian administration that appears content to delay and prevaricate its way through peace talks while its bombs and drones fall on Ukrainian targets.)
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And it is worth remembering that diplomacy is always best carried out far from the gaze of the media, where currying favour with thuggish leaders or making ugly promises with negotiators is the price of progress.
Even with those caveats, Mr Witkoff’s apparent coaching of Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, on how to handle Mr Trump and the stop-start peace process is deeply embarrassing.
He offers advice for Putin’s call with the US president (ladle on the praise) and goes on to suggest that the Russian president propose a similar deal for Ukraine as the one that ended fighting in Gaza. --->READ MORE HERE
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