President Donald Trump thinks his special envoy coaching a henchman of Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “standard” practice.
Trump brushed off a Bloomberg bombshell detailing Steve Witkoff’s chummy five-minute phone call with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, in October. The American official taught the Russians how to get into Trump’s good graces before they uncork the touchy topic of a Russia-Ukraine peace plan
“That’s a standard thing, you know, because he’s got to sell this to Ukraine, he’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump, 79, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. “That’s what a dealmaker does. You got to say, ‘Look, they want this. You’ve got to convince him of this.’ You know, that’s a very standard form of negotiation.”
“I haven’t heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation, and I would imagine he’s saying the same thing to Ukraine, because each party has to give and take,” he went on.
According to a transcript of the phone call, Witkoff had several pieces of advice for the Russians.
“I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you 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,” he said. “So I would say that. I think from that, it’s going to be a really good call.”
Ushakov replied: “OK, OK, my friend. I think that very point our leaders could discuss. 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.”
It’s a strategy that Witkoff himself has employed in the past. During a televised Cabinet meeting in August, the special envoy talked up Trump as the “single finest candidate” to ever seek the Nobel Peace Prize, which eluded the U.S. president this year despite his aggressive lobbying.
“Your success is game-changing, out in the world today, and I hope everybody wakes up one day and realizes that,” Witkoff said, as the room broke out into applause.
Witkoff’s advice didn’t stop at praise for Trump. The envoy also laid down a script for Putin when it comes to peace talks.
“Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things—to explore what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done,” he told Ushakov.
“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,” he went on. “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. And I think Yuri, the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal.”
Just before the two officials hopped off the call, Witkoff advised Ushakov that it would be best if Putin spoke to Trump ahead of the White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That meeting ended in yet another fiery shouting match behind closed doors, according to the Financial Times.
“OK, OK. I got your advice,” Ushakov responded. “So I discuss that with my boss and then I come back to you, ok?”
Two weeks later, Ushakov got back on the phone. This time it was with Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s economic adviser, who has emerged as a key player in efforts to shape a peace deal with Ukraine.
A second transcript reported by Bloomberg showed the two Russian officials discussing how to move forward after the call with Witkoff.
“I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible,” Dmitriev said.
“They might twist it later, that’s all. There is that risk. There is,” Ushakov replied. “Well, alright, never mind. We’ll see.”
It turned out Ushakov had no reason to worry. When Trump released the latest iteration of his peace proposal, U.S. lawmakers blasted it as a “wish list” drawn up by the Kremlin.
The proposal would see Ukraine ceding its occupied territories to the Russians, halve the size of its military, and rule out future NATO membership—all of which were demands Putin had been making since 2022.
The fierce backlash to the proposed peace plan forced Trump to back away.
“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. “GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
