Trump Ally Advised Putin Aideโข on Framing โPeace Plan to Former President, Recording Reveals
WASHINGTON – โคA recording of a conversation between a closeโ advisor to Vladimir Putin and a Trump-appointed envoy reveals efforts โฃto shape a prospective Ukraine peace proposal โin aโข manner more palatable to Donald Trump, โaccording to a Bloomberg report published Tuesday. The exchange โฃdetails how the Trump ally coachedโ the Putin aide on presenting the plan, โฃwhich reportedly โขleaned heavily โขtoward Russian โคdemands, to the former president.
The recording features Tom Witkoff,โ a special envoy forโ Ukraineโข peace โtalks appointed by trump, โspeaking with Kirill Dmitriev, a โฃclose advisor to Putin onโ Ukraine. The conversation occurred on October โข29, shortly after Dmitriev met โin Florida with Witkoff โคandโ Jared Kushner,โข Trump’s โson-in-law and informal advisor, to discuss a 28-point peace plan.
During the call, Dmitriev discussed debating with Ushakov how strongly Moscow should push for its demands in the prospective peace proposal.”I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal.โข And let them do likeโข their own,” Dmitriev told Ushakov, adding, โ”But, โขI don’tโค think they’ll โtake exactly our version, but at least it’ll โbe as close to it as possible.”
The original peace plan, which became public last week,โ includedโ calls for โUkraine to cede โฃthe entire Donbas region to Russia and significantly reduce its military size. It also proposed a guarantee from Europe that โฃUkraine would never join NATO.
Trumpโ hadโฃ previously stated,on December 17,that Ukraine and Russia should “stop where they are” on the โคbattlefield,a position interpreted โas advocating for Ukraine to concede territory to Russia.
The White House defended Witkoff’s actions, with communications director Steven Cheung stating, “This story proves one thing: Special Envoy Witkoff โขtalksโค to officials in both Russia and Ukraine nearly everyโฃ day to โขachieve peace, which is exactly what President Trump appointed him to do.”
Dmitriev dismissedโฃ the transcript as “Fake” in a social media post,adding,”The closerโฃ we get to peace,the moreโค desperate warmongers become.”โค The Russianโฃ Embassy โฃin Washington did โฃnot respond to aโ request โฃfor comment.
Secretary of โState Marco Rubio has asserted โคthe proposal originated in the United States, with input from both โคRussia and Ukraine, amid criticism that theโ leaked plan โคfavored Russian objectives. The State Department โdeclined toโ comment on โthe โฃBloomberg โฃreport.
Trump has indicatedโข he is sendingโค Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials while Witkoff โmeets with Putin, and suggested he โcould eventually meet โฃwith both Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, pending further negotiation โขprogress.