WASHINGTON – In a revealing development, Donald Trump’s primary liaison to the Russian government offered advice to a top aide of Vladimir Putin about how to strategically approach the U.S. president with a peace proposal aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The exchange, which took place last month, was detailed in a transcript published by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
According to the transcript from the October 14 conversation, Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, counseled Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, on the nuances of engaging President Trump. Witkoff recommended that Putin should call Trump to commend him for the Gaza peace deal, express Russia’s support for the initiative, and acknowledge Trump’s reputation as a peace advocate. Witkoff assured Ushakov that such an approach would lead to a “really good call.”
This report surfaced as President Trump announced that a proposal to end Russia’s conflict in Ukraine is being refined. He further revealed his intentions to dispatch Witkoff to meet with Putin directly. Notably, the White House did not contest the authenticity of the published transcript, and Trump characterized Witkoff’s approach as a typical negotiation tactic.
“He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump explained to reporters while aboard Air Force One en route to his Florida residence. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
The White House did not dispute the veracity of the transcript, and Trump described Witkoff’s reported approach to the Russians in the call as “standard” negotiating procedure.
“He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
But U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who has been critical of Trump’s approach to Ukraine, said the transcript showed Witkoff favors the Russians. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired,” Bacon said on social media.
Bloomberg said it reviewed a recording of the call, but did not say how it obtained access to the recording. The Associated Press has not independently verified the transcript.
The Witkoff-Ushakov call happened a day after Trump made a triumphant visit to Israel and Egypt to celebrate sealing the Gaza ceasefire.
“Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Witkoff said to his counterpart during the call, according to Bloomberg. “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.”
Witkoff also suggested setting up a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s White House visit later that week and suggested that Putin congratulate Trump on the Gaza agreement as an entry point into the call. Ushakov agreed that Putin “will congratulate” and will say “Mr. Trump is a real peace man.”
Trump and Putin ended up speaking to each other a day before the U.S. president held White House talks with Zelenskyy. Shortly after that meeting with Zelenskyy on Oct. 17, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia should “stop where they are” on the battlefield — meaning Ukraine should concede territory Russia had seized from its neighbor.
On Oct. 29, Ushakov spoke by phone with Kirill Dmitriev — a close adviser to Putin on Ukraine — and debated how strongly Moscow should push for its demands in a prospective peace proposal, according to another recording reviewed by Bloomberg.
“I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do like their own,” Dmitriev told Ushakov in the back and forth. “But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.
The exchange happened soon after Dmitriev had traveled to Florida for talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser, that centered on creating the framework for a 28-point peace plan.
The original plan, which became public last week, appeared heavily skewed toward Russian demands and included calls for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region to Russia and dramatically reduce the size of its military. It also included an agreement from Europe that Ukraine will never be allowed to join the NATO military alliance.
“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,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Dmitriev said in a social media post that the transcript was “Fake” and said in a second post: “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 insisted the proposal was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians, in response to bipartisan pushback in Washington that the leaked plan amounted to a Russian wish list. The State Department declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
On Tuesday, Trump said he was sending Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials as Witkoff meets with Putin. Trump also suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.
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