(Washington) Last month, White House envoy Steve Witkoff appeared to encourage an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump, Mr. Witkoff said in a telephone call, the transcript of which was leaked to Bloomberg, will “give him a lot of leeway and discretion to close the deal.”
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The transcript of the call, published Tuesday by Bloomberg, sparked outrage in Washington: Mr. Witkoff appeared to advise the Kremlin on how to negotiate with Mr. Trump and undermine the upcoming visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But it also reveals Mr. Trump’s desire to come to an agreement with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, even in an agreement to Russia’s advantage and despite months of dodging and refusal on the part of Mr. Putin.
Republican surge
In doing so, Mr. Trump sparked a rare burst of Republican opposition in Congress, shocked European allies and created a sense of abandonment in Ukraine. A victory for Moscow, where any dissension in NATO or erosion of American prestige in Ukraine is seen as a gain in itself. Mr. Trump has also sparked a heated debate in Washington, where his supporters describe talking with Mr. Putin as the only way to end the deadliest fighting in Europe since World War II.
“There aren’t many issues where I support the president, but I have to give him credit for persisting,” said Emma Ashford, a foreign policy specialist in Washington who advocates less American involvement internationally.
PHOTO ERIC LEE, THE NEW YORK TIMES
Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy to the Middle East, behind Donald Trump. The president defended Mr. Witkoff’s advice to the Russians, calling his comments “standard practice” in negotiations.
As early as April, Trump threatened to give up on ending the war in Ukraine. The United States, he warned, could say: “’You are idiots, horrible people,’ and we won’t get involved anymore. »
However, despite his frustration with MM. Putin and Zelensky, he persevered, motivated by a mix of reasons such as his horror at the loss of life and his obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize. He spoke on the phone with Mr. Putin eight times, sent Mr. Witkoff to Moscow five times and received the Russian leader in Alaska.
Until last week, even critics of Trump’s approach welcomed his willingness to pressure Putin. The United States imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies in October, limiting Moscow’s ability to finance its war. Arms and intelligence support for Ukraine continued. Mr. Trump canceled a summit with Mr. Putin in Hungary five days after announcing it, saying it would be pointless.
US policy toward Ukraine was “much better than hoped, given the ups and downs in the administration’s handling of this war,” says Andrew Weiss, vice president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Compliance and advice
However, the transcript of the leaked conversations shows that Mr. Witkoff and Russian officials were working behind the scenes in October on a new diplomatic initiative. On October 14, Mr. Witkoff spoke with Yuriy Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, encouraging the Russian president to call Mr. Trump before Mr. Zelensky’s upcoming visit.
On October 29, according to Bloomberg, Mr. Ushakov spoke with Kirill Dmitriev, an economic envoy of Mr. Putin who had just met Mr. Witkoff in Miami. Mr. Dmitriev said he expected the next US peace plan to be as close as possible to the Russian proposals.
PHOTO VIATCHESLAV PROKOFIEV, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff during talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 11, 2025
Once Mr. Witkoff’s remarks were revealed, Mr. Trump defended them, calling them “standard practice” in negotiations. According to Steven Cheung, White House communications director, this leak “proves one thing: Special Envoy Witkoff speaks almost every day with Russians and Ukrainians to achieve peace, exactly what President Trump” is asking him to do.
On Tuesday, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll met with a Russian delegation in the United Arab Emirates to discuss the latest U.S. peace plan. Mr. Trump later posted on social media that there remained “only a few points of disagreement.” The president said the plan had been “refined, with input from both sides,” after a 28-point plan almost modeled on Russian conditions sparked outrage.
Warmth of Moscow
But by Wednesday, a familiar dynamic was repeating itself. As with other statements by Mr. Trump on the imminence of an agreement, Russia seemed to procrastinate.
The US plan “has not yet been discussed in detail with anyone”, Mr Ushakov told a Russian journalist. “We have seen it, it has been transmitted to us, but there have been no discussions yet. »
PHOTO KRISTINA KORMILITSYNA, SPUTNIK AGENCY
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcoming the US special envoy ahead of their talks in Moscow, April 25, 2025
Negotiations continue, with Mr. Driscoll expected to return to Ukraine and Mr. Witkoff to Moscow. However, the correctness of Mr. Trump’s repeated engagement with Mr. Putin is now most controversial in Washington.
According to Eric Green, former director for Russia on President Joe Biden’s National Security Council, the United States would have sought to strengthen its relationship with Russia this year even if Kamala Harris had become president.
“There is a way to do this without causing the level of concern that we have caused among Ukrainians and Europeans,” he said, adding that the Trump administration’s approach has also widened the divide between the United States and Europe, as well as between the United States and Ukraine.
“The Trump team’s clumsy approach to these negotiations favors all Russian objectives,” said Mr. Green.
This article was published in the New York Times.
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