Previous US presidents would be distancing themselves from Steve Witkoff at a rate of knots
WASHINGTON DC – On Sunday evening in Miami, Steve Witkoff looked like a man who had been on the receiving end of a beating. After four hours of talks with Ukrainian officials, Donald Trump’s special envoy fidgeted in his chair, while sporting a very heavy dose of five o’clock shadow, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio held court.
As Rubio discussed the need to “help Ukraine be safe forever” and pledged to help Kyiv “enter an age of true… long term prosperity”. Witkoff, who did not speak, took on the appearance of a mischievous child whose fingers had been caught in the cookie jar.
Rubio had spent days trying to rebalance Trump’s 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, which – it turned out – was not really the President’s proposal at all. Witkoff had seemingly taken a Russian plan, delivered to him by a Kremlin intermediary, ran it through an online translation app, tweaked it a little and then presented it as America’s intellectual property.
Coupled with a leaked transcript of Witkoff’s fawning conversation last month with a top Kremlin official, it left Rubio working overtime to try to turn the US-backed proposal into something less advantageous for Russia and more palatable for the rest of Europe.
In an earlier era of American statecraft, Witkoff would have been a busted flush. His ambition to deliver a peace entirely favourable to Russia has now been nakedly revealed.
“Imagine what he says and tells them when he’s in Moscow, with no interpreter or notetaker,” a former State Department official told The i Paper after reviewing the transcript of the leaked call. “Disgraceful”, they added.
Were veteran American diplomats – like the late George Kennan or Brent Scowcroft – still in Washington’s corridors of power, they would likely demand Witkoff’s immediate resignation and to refer him for possible criminal charges over endangering national security.
Previous US presidents would be distancing themselves from Witkoff at a rate of knots, while on Capitol Hill, Congress would be abuzz with talk of investigative hearings. But this is no longer that kind of America.
On Tuesday, Witkoff will be back playing a key role. He is expected to meet Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. During his leaked call with top Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, Witkoff expressed his “deepest respect” for the Russian President, never mind that Putin stands accused of war crimes in both Ukraine and Syria.
Even the fact that the Russian leader is sanctioned to the hilt by the US is of no consequence to Witkoff, except insofar as how rapidly he can persuade Trump to loosen the stranglehold.
However, it seems that Witkoff is not just out to dismember Ukraine in the name of a Trump-won “peace”, he is reportedly advancing plans to rip the UK and the rest of Europe off by ensuring that US businesses secure first rights on investment opportunities in a sanctions-free, post-conflict Russia.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that in recent talks with Kirill Dmitriev, the Harvard-educated Kremlin adviser, Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, poured over a plan to bring Russia’s $2trn economy back in from the cold – “with American businesses first in line to beat European competitors to the dividends”.
More egregious still, the plan reportedly calls for US companies to access roughly $300bn of Russian central bank assets, currently frozen in Europe, to launch new joint ventures with the Russians. European leaders want that money to be spent exclusively on rebuilding Ukraine and must now brace themselves for conflict with the White House over the frozen cash.
It will be a hard battle for Europe to win. The US plan is already so advanced that Exxon Mobil executives began meeting with leaders of Russian oil giant Rosneft earlier this year to discuss ways for the US behemoth to re-enter the Russian market.
Trump, always on the lookout for a quick buck, seems beguiled by the recipe that Witkoff and Kushner are cooking up with Putin. Dismissing questions about whether Witkoff should now be considered a Russian stooge, the President claimed his envoy’s behaviour was “standard” negotiating protocol.
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In Russia, as in the Middle East, Trump sees a landscape of limitless potential wealth for US businesses, including many bearing his family’s name.
As negotiations ramp up, Rubio must keep tolerating Witkoff, even while seeking to dilute his and Trump’s worst excesses.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, enthused that Sunday’s session with Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner was “super supportive” of Kyiv’s ambitions. But with Witkoff now heading to the Kremlin, it seems likely he will be depositing the ball firmly back in Putin’s court.
