Policy

The Trump administration is concerned about Witkoff’s approach to negotiations with Russia. What is the reason?

The US presidential administration is concerned about the style of negotiations between Special Representative Steve Witkoff and Russia and Iran.

This was reported by the New York Post, citing sources, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.

“President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, former lawyer and real estate investor Steve Witkoff, has angered administration insiders with his approach to negotiations with America’s two biggest adversaries,” the publication says.

Vitkoff, who has become Trump’s de facto personal envoy in negotiations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his representatives in addition to negotiations in the Middle East, participates in high-level meetings alone.

According to the sources, he sometimes relies on Kremlin interpreters – contrary to long-standing diplomatic procedures.

The NYP notes that on the eve of Witkoff’s last meeting with Putin last Friday, he greeted the Kremlin leader “like an old friend” – without any hint of the usual circle of advisers, experts and military officers who usually accompany American officials to talks.

At the same time, Putin himself attended the meeting, accompanied by his aide Yuri Ushakov and the head of the Russian private equity fund, Kirill Dmitriev, who was the Russian president’s representative at the talks in Washington.

One member of the first Trump administration criticized Mr. Vitkoff’s approach of negotiating alone.

Others have also expressed concern that Witkoff is being given too much of a role that combines U.S. negotiations with Russia and negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release between Israel and Hamas, as well as renegotiating the agreement with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote on social network X that Trump should have appointed a person with some experience in diplomacy to mediate the talks with Russia and Ukraine.

“Vitkoff acts like a postman for Putin. He’s not negotiating anything,” McFaul said.

In addition, NYP writes that Russian media have noticed that Vitkoff repeats Putin’s words and easily adopts Russian narratives.

What is known about Witkoff
Trump’s envoy has repeatedly visited Russia for talks on the war in Ukraine. Afterwards, he convinced the American president that Putin wanted to conclude a peace agreement, although other members of Trump’s team thought otherwise and demanded that he take a tougher stance against Russia, the WSJ wrote.

In addition, in an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson, Vitkoff called the issue of Crimea and the “four regions” the biggest problem in resolving the Russian-Ukrainian war.

According to him, the majority of the population of these regions, which he could not recall the names of, were allegedly Russian-speaking and wanted to join the Russian Federation. However, according to him, the problem is that the “elephant in the room,” as he called the Ukrainian Constitution, does not allow the occupied territories to be recognized as Russian.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Witkoff for his remarks about these five Ukrainian regions that should be included in a peace agreement. According to him, he “discusses issues outside his competence.”

Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy, called Witkoff’s statements “shameful” and said that he did not know the obvious and basic things he should know. The Ukrainian lawmaker believes that Trump should remove Witkoff from participating in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.