Witkoff ‘advised Putin aide’ on pitching Ukraine peace plan to Trump – report

US President Donald Trump’s chief negotiator with the Russian government last month advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on how the Russian leader should go about pitching the US president on a Ukraine peace plan, according to a transcript of the call published by Bloomberg News.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, according to a transcript of the October 14 call published by the news service, advised Mr Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that Mr Putin should call Mr Trump to congratulate him for the Gaza peace deal, say Russia had supported it and that he respects the president as a man of peace.

“From that, it’s going to be a really good call,” Mr Witkoff said according to the transcript.

When asked by Russian state media to comment on Bloomberg’s report, Mr Ushakov did not question the recordings’ authenticity but said that they had not been leaked by Moscow.

He also said that the calls had likely been leaked to “hinder” US-Russia ties.

“It’s unlikely this is being done to improve relations,” he said.

Mr Ushakov also said that he spoke to Mr Witkoff by phone “quite often” but refused to discuss the content of the recording.

“The essence of these conversations is that they are confidential. I won’t comment. No one should comment.”

The Bloomberg report came as Mr Trump on Tuesday said a proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and announced he is sending Mr Witkoff to meet Mr Putin.

The White House did not dispute the veracity of the transcript, and Mr Trump described Mr 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,” Mr 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 US Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who has been critical of Mr Trump’s approach to Ukraine, said the transcript showed Mr Witkoff favours the Russians.

“He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired,” Mr 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 Mr Trump made a triumphant visit to Israel and Egypt to celebrate sealing the Gaza ceasefire.

“Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Mr 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.”

Mr Witkoff also suggested setting up a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s White House visit later that week and suggested that Mr Putin congratulate Mr Trump on the Gaza agreement as an entry point into the call.

Mr Ushakov agreed that Mr Putin “will congratulate” and will say “Mr Trump is a real peace man.”

Mr Trump and Mr Putin ended up speaking to each other a day before the US president held White House talks with Mr Zelensky. Shortly after that meeting with Mr Zelensky on October 17, Mr Trump said that Ukraine and Russia should “stop where they are” on the battlefield – meaning Ukraine should concede territory Russia had seized from its neighbour.

On October 29, Mr Ushakov spoke by phone with Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Mr 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,” Mr Dmitriev told Mr 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 Mr Dmitriev had travelled to Florida for talks with Mr Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser, that centred 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.

Mr 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, Mr Trump said he was sending Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet Ukrainian officials as Mr Witkoff meets Mr Putin. Mr Trump also suggested he could eventually meet Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.