United States presidential envoy Steve Witkoff advised a senior Kremlin official on how President Vladimir Putin should pitch a Ukraine peace deal to Donald Trump, according to a transcript of their conversation published by Bloomberg.
The phone conversation in mid-October appears to point to the origins of a Trump-endorsed 28-point proposal that was widely seen as favouring Moscow by requiring Ukraine to make significant territorial concessions and pledge not to join Nato.
Bloomberg said it had produced the transcript after reviewing a recording of the conversation between Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, Putin鈥檚 foreign policy adviser - but gave no indication of how the recording was acquired.
According to the transcript, Witkoff said during the call that he believes Russia - which started the war in Ukraine by launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022 - 鈥渉as always wanted a peace deal鈥, and that he has 鈥渢he deepest respect for President Putin鈥.
The US envoy advised Ushakov that Putin should flatter President Trump during an upcoming call over the recently concluded Gaza ceasefire and say 鈥渢hat you respect that he is a man of peace and you鈥檙e just, you鈥檙e really glad to have seen it happen鈥.
Witkoff also suggested the creation of a 20-point peace plan for Ukraine 鈥渏ust like we did in Gaza鈥, and urged that Putin bring it up with Trump.
鈥淚 think ... the President will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal,鈥 he told Ushakov.
The phone call between Trump and Putin took place on October 16, with the US President describing it as 鈥渧ery productive鈥 and subsequently questioning Kyiv鈥檚 push for Tomahawk missiles just a day before hosting Ukraine鈥檚 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
Washington鈥檚 28-point proposal to end the war has since been replaced by one taking in more of Ukraine鈥檚 interests.
Witkoff will soon discuss that new version with Putin in Moscow, with Trump saying there were 鈥渙nly a few remaining points of disagreement鈥.
Reacting to the publication of the transcript, White House communications director Steven Cheung said it only proved that Witkoff 鈥渢alks to officials in both Russia and Ukraine nearly every day to achieve peace, which is exactly what President Trump appointed him to do鈥.
-Agence France-Presse
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