US envoy coached Putin aide on how Russian leader should pitch Trump on Ukraine peace plan

President Donald Trump’s chief interlocutor with the Russian government last month advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on how the Russian leader should go about pitching the U.S. president on a peace plan aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to a transcript of the call published by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, according to a transcript of the Oct. 14 call published by the news service, suggested setting up a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s White House visit later that week and suggested that Putin congratulate Trump on the Gaza agreement as an entry point into the call.

When asked by Russian state media to comment on Bloomberg’s report, 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” U.S.-Russia ties. “It’s unlikely this is being done to improve relations,” he said.

The White House did not dispute the veracity of the transcript, and Trump described 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,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”

On Oct. 29, Ushakov spoke by phone with Kirill Dmitriev — a close adviser to 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,” Dmitriev told 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.

Dmitriev said in a social media post that the transcript was “Fake”․