President Donald Trump’s chief interlocutor with the Russian government last month advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on how the Russian leader should pitch the U.S. president on a peace plan aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to a transcript of the call published Tuesday by Bloomberg News.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, according to the October 14 call transcript, told Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that Putin should call Trump to congratulate him on the Gaza peace deal, say Russia supported it, and express respect for Trump as a man of peace.
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Vladimir Putin, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump
(Photo: Reuters/Khalil Ashawi, Shmulik Almani, Sputnik, Kremlin/ AP)
“From that, it’s going to be a really good call,” Witkoff said, according to the transcript.
Asked by Russian state media about Bloomberg’s report, Ushakov did not challenge the recording’s authenticity but said it was not leaked by Moscow. He suggested the calls were likely leaked to hinder U.S.-Russia ties. “It’s unlikely this is being done to improve relations,” he said.
Ushakov added that he speaks with Witkoff by phone “quite often” but refused to discuss the content. “The essence of these conversations is that they are confidential. I won’t comment. No one should comment.”
The Bloomberg report came as Trump said Tuesday that a proposal to end the war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and announced he is sending Witkoff to meet with Putin.
The White House did not dispute the transcript’s accuracy, and Trump described Witkoff’s approach 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 Florida Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who has criticized Trump’s approach to Ukraine, said the transcript showed Witkoff favors Russia. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired,” Bacon wrote on social media.
Bloomberg said it reviewed a recording of the call but did not say how it obtained it. The Associated Press has not independently verified the transcript.
The Witkoff-Ushakov call took place a day after Trump visited Israel and Egypt to mark the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
“Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Witkoff told Ushakov, according to Bloomberg. He suggested that Putin tell Trump that “Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace” and that it could help move negotiations forward.
Witkoff also proposed arranging a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s White House visit later that week, and again urged that Putin congratulate Trump on the Gaza agreement as an entry point. Ushakov agreed that Putin would congratulate Trump and would say “Mr. Trump is a real peace man.”
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Putin, Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky
(Photo: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images/ Eric Lalmand/ AFP)
Trump and Putin ultimately spoke a day before Trump met Zelensky at the White House. After that meeting on October 17, Trump said Ukraine and Russia should “stop where they are” on the battlefield, implying Ukraine should concede territory seized by Russia.
On October 29, Ushakov spoke by phone with Kirill Dmitriev, a close Putin adviser on Ukraine, and the two discussed how strongly Moscow should push its demands in a potential 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. “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 came soon after Dmitriev traveled to Florida for talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser, aimed at creating a 28-point peace framework.
The original plan, made public last week, appeared heavily tilted toward Russian demands. It called for Ukraine to cede all of the Donbas region to Russia, sharply reduce the size of its military, and accept a European commitment that Ukraine would never join NATO.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement that Witkoff speaks with officials in both Russia and Ukraine almost daily to pursue peace, which he said is exactly what Trump appointed him to do.
Dmitriev posted on social media that the transcript was fake and added that “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 said the proposal was authored by the United States with input from both Russia and Ukraine, responding to bipartisan criticism that the leaked plan amounted to a Russian wish list. The State Department declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report.
Trump said Tuesday he is also sending Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials while Witkoff meets with Putin. Trump suggested he could eventually meet with both Putin and Zelensky, but not until negotiations advance further.