Was Putin-U.S. meeting on Ukraine peace about ‘money not war?’
A five-hour meeting Tuesday in Moscow between Russian President Putin and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner concluded without reaching an agreement to end the war, but the talks were “useful” and “constructive,” according to a senior Russian official.
Photos released by Russian state media showed Witkoff and Kushner meeting with Putin and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign-wealth fund (state-owned investment fund), who had contributed input to a 28-point peace plan drafted by Witkoff and Kushner. That earlier plan was revised in negotiations led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Ukrainian officials in Geneva after European and Ukrainian officials said it was too favorable to Russia.
Ukrainian officials met with Witkoff, Kushner and Rubio on Sunday and further refined the plan that already had been amended in Geneva the weekend before, Ukraine President Zelensky said on Tuesday.
Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled “Make money not war: Trump’s real plan for peace in Ukraine.”
The article describes Witkoff, Kushner and Dmitriev meeting last month in Miami Beach to draft the 28-point peace plan.
“They were privately charting a path to bring Russia’s $2 trillion economy in from the cold — with American businesses first in line to beat European competitors to the dividends.”
For Russia, the Miami talks were the culmination of a strategy, hatched before Trump’s inauguration, to bypass the traditional U.S. national security apparatus and convince the administration to view Russia not as a military threat but as a land of bountiful opportunity, the WSJ says, citing Western security officials. By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Russia could reshape the economic map of Europe— while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies.
Dmitriev, who has an MBA from Harvard Business School and worked at Goldman Sachs, has “found receptive partners” in Witkoff and Kushner, says the WSJ. Witkoff is a real estate developer and Kushner has an investment company, Affinity Partners, that has received billion-dollar investments from the Arab monarchies whose conflict with Israel Kushner helped mediate.
“Russia has so many vast resources, vast expanses of land,” Witkoff told the WSJ, describing his hopes that Russia, Ukraine and the United States would become business partners. “If we do all that, and everybody’s prospering and they’re all a part of it, and there’s upside for everybody, that’s going to naturally be a bulwark against future conflicts there. Because everybody’s thriving.”
Also in the news
Trump administration halts immigration applications for migrants from 19 countries banned from travel to U.S. earlier this year
Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking, is freed after Trump pardon
Justice Department sues 6 more states in ongoing effort to obtain detailed voter data, other election information
Agriculture secretary threatens to cut funding to blue states over alleged SNAP data noncompliance
Judge blocks Trump administration from making widespread immigration arrests in D.C. without warrants or probable cause
Republican Matt Van Epps wins special election for House seat in Tennessee, but Democrat gains ground
Progressive James Solomon wins Jersey City mayoral runoff against former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey
Michael and Susan Dell pledge $6 billion for ‘Trump Account’ investment accounts for up to 25 million U.S. children
American Economic Association bans former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers for life over his involvement with Epstein
Heather Cox Richardson on boat strikes, Trump attack on Somalis
How Christian ‘momfluencers’ are reshaping the U.S. right