Trump Ally Advised Putin Aide on Framing Peace Plan to Former President, Recording Reveals
WASHINGTON – A recording of a conversation between a close advisor to Vladimir Putin and a Trump-appointed envoy reveals efforts to shape a prospective Ukraine peace proposal in a manner more palatable to Donald Trump, according to a Bloomberg report published Tuesday. The exchange details how the Trump ally coached the Putin aide on presenting the plan, which reportedly leaned heavily toward Russian demands, to the former president.
The recording features Tom Witkoff, a special envoy for Ukraine peace talks appointed by trump, speaking with Kirill Dmitriev, a close advisor to Putin on Ukraine. The conversation occurred on October 29, shortly after Dmitriev met in Florida with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-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. And let them do like their own,” Dmitriev told Ushakov, adding, ”But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.”
The original peace plan, which became public last week, included calls for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region to Russia and significantly reduce its military size. It also proposed a guarantee from Europe that Ukraine would never join NATO.
Trump had previously stated,on December 17,that Ukraine and Russia should “stop where they are” on the battlefield,a position interpreted as 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 talks to officials in both Russia and Ukraine nearly every day to achieve peace, which is exactly what President Trump appointed him to do.”
Dmitriev dismissed the transcript as “Fake” in a social media post,adding,”The closer we get to peace,the more desperate warmongers become.” The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted the proposal originated in the United States, with input from both Russia and Ukraine, amid criticism that the leaked plan favored Russian objectives. The State Department declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
Trump has indicated he is sending Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials while Witkoff meets with Putin, and suggested he could eventually meet with both Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, pending further negotiation progress.