{"id":12853,"date":"2025-03-14T11:33:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T11:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/trump-turns-to-an-untested-emissary-steven-witkoff-to-engage-putin\/"},"modified":"2025-03-14T11:33:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T11:33:40","slug":"trump-turns-to-an-untested-emissary-steven-witkoff-to-engage-putin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/trump-turns-to-an-untested-emissary-steven-witkoff-to-engage-putin\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Turns to an Untested Emissary, Steven Witkoff, to Engage Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When President Trump appointed his friend Steven Witkoff to be his Middle East envoy last November, the choice prompted head-scratching in diplomatic circles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many foreign officials had never heard of Mr. Witkoff, a billionaire New York real estate developer who has known Mr. Trump since the mid-1980s. The president\u2019s new envoy not only lacked expertise in the region apart from some business dealings, he had no diplomatic experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That didn\u2019t matter to a president who considers Washington credentials a liability and views foreign policy as a series of business transactions. And Mr. Trump was impressed by Mr. Witkoff\u2019s ability to help the outgoing Biden administration seal a temporary cease-fire deal in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, in a fresh sign of confidence in his old friend, Mr. Trump has expanded Mr. Witkoff\u2019s portfolio. As Mr. Trump pursues a peace deal in Ukraine and a potential realignment of U.S.-Russia relations, he has tapped Mr. Witkoff to be his personal envoy to Russia\u2019s president, Vladimir V. Putin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Thursday morning, Mr. Witkoff landed in Moscow to meet with the Russian leader for the second time in just over a month. In mid-February, he and Mr. Putin sat down for a three-and-a-half-hour session that led to Mr. Putin\u2019s release of Marc Fogel, an American serving a prison sentence in Russia on marijuana smuggling charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Engaging Mr. Putin is an assignment that would make even a seasoned diplomat take a deep breath. Befitting his past as an intelligence operative, the Russian leader is a master of intimidation, manipulation and deceit. Some experts and diplomats who know Mr. Putin fear that Mr. Witkoff may be in over his head.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Recent signs that Mr. Witkoff may have a key role in Mr. Trump\u2019s early diplomacy with Iran over its fast-growing nuclear program have also raised other questions, including whether Mr. Witkoff risks being stretched too thin and whether, as a kind of roving super envoy, he would chafe against the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Mr. Witkoff flew to Moscow from Doha, Qatar, where he had been helping mediate talks between Israel and Hamas to extend the fragile Gaza cease-fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Moscow, Mr. Witkoff will hear Mr. Putin\u2019s take on a Ukraine cease-fire plan that U.S. and Ukrainian officials agreed on earlier this week in Saudi Arabia. A pause in the fighting could be a first step toward Mr. Trump\u2019s goal of quickly ending the war in Ukraine and moving to normalize relations with Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The conversation does not promise to be simple: Speaking to reporters before the meeting on Thursday, Mr. Putin raised a series of questions about the plan, which a top Kremlin aide had <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kommersant.ru\/doc\/7566743\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">dismissed<\/a> as \u201chasty.\u201d Many analysts say that Mr. Putin has little incentive to end a war in which he now appears to have an upper hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If he does agree to end the war, Mr. Putin may insist on major concessions, analysts say, including an American military pullback from Eastern Europe and an explicit, Cold War-style recognition of a Russian sphere of regional influence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Witkoff is the first senior U.S. official to meet with Mr. Putin since before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The Biden administration cut off contact with Mr. Putin and accused Russia of committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Witkoff seemed to have been at ease with the Russian leader during their first meeting, saying at an investment <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=baDs9eGarzs\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">conference in Miami<\/a> last month that he had spent the session \u201cdeveloping a friendship, a relationship\u201d with Mr. Putin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The remarks are in line with others Mr. Witkoff has made disputing the idea that Russia is a dangerous aggressor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Speaking on CNN last month, he said that Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine \u201cwas provoked,\u201d adding: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The comment reflected the view, now common on both the far left and far right, that America forced Mr. Putin into military action by gradually expanding the NATO alliance deep into Eastern Europe, and by proposing to make Ukraine a member.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2018, Mr. Witkoff also criticized Western economic sanctions against Russia, imposed after it annexed Ukraine\u2019s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and tried to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. \u201cI never understood the Russian sanctions, candidly, because all it did was stop Russian investment into this country,\u201d he said in a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WaBxtngJYDc\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">podcast interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Such talk, along with Mr. Witkoff\u2019s inexperience with Mr. Putin, worries some of those who know the Russian leader best.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou need to be super well prepared\u201d to deal with Mr. Putin, said Fiona Hill, a Putin biographer who served as Mr. Trump\u2019s senior National Security Council director for Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a counter example to Mr. Witkoff, Ms. Hill recalled the messenger President Biden sent to Mr. Putin at a moment of crisis in late 2021: the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To warn Mr. Putin that an invasion of Ukraine would draw a severe U.S. response, Mr. Biden dispatched Mr. Burns, who served as U.S. ambassador to Moscow during more than 40 years as a diplomat and met Mr. Putin numerous times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWitkoff doesn\u2019t have the experience, obviously, that someone like Burns did,\u201d Ms. Hill said. That might matter less, she said, if he were surrounded by experts who could lend an expert ear to Mr. Putin\u2019s commentary and offer him context and fact-checking. But she noted that Mr. Witkoff, who is operating with a bare-bones staff, had not brought anyone to his first meeting with Mr. Putin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Expertise can be a liability to Mr. Trump, who believes that the real estate deal-making playbook is easily applied to international relations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s not as though the United States has done great over the years with experienced diplomats when it comes to Putin,\u201d said Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, who said Mr. Witkoff should be given a chance to prove himself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Similar thinking about the Middle East led Mr. Trump in his first term to task his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is also a real estate executive, with reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an onstage dialogue Mr. Kushner led with Mr. Witkoff at the Miami investment conference, Mr. Witkoff said it was Mr. Kushner who had convinced him to join Mr. Trump\u2019s administration, joking that Mr. Kushner had applied \u201cinsidiously clever\u201d tactics on him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kushner suggested that Mr. Witkoff\u2019s record in real estate was more valuable on the global stage than traditional foreign policy experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou come from a background of negotiations and transactions and deals, which is much different than diplomacy,\u201d Mr. Kushner said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">People who have worked with Mr. Witkoff say he can be a tough, table-thumping negotiator. But he has an energetic, cheerful disposition and a knack for making people \u201cfeel like a million bucks,\u201d as one Trump official put it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Plunging into Israel\u2019s fraught negotiations with Hamas late last year even before Mr. Trump\u2019s inauguration, Mr. Witkoff even impressed Brett McGurk, who served as Mr. Biden\u2019s top aide for Middle East affairs, and who was trying to broker a cease-fire in Mr. Biden\u2019s final days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. McGurk said in an interview that he found in Mr. Witkoff a pragmatist and fellow \u201cproblem solver,\u201d with whom he developed a close and trusting relationship. \u201cAnything Steve is working on, is in capable hands,\u201d<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>Mr. McGurk said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The expansion of Mr. Witkoff\u2019s role to include negotiations with Moscow \u2014 Mr. Witkoff also joined Mr. Rubio and the national security adviser, Michael Waltz, in a meeting with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia last month \u2014 further muddies the question of who in the Trump administration is overseeing Russia policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In November, Mr. Trump named Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general, to be his envoy to Ukraine and Russia. But Mr. Kellogg now appears to be playing a supporting role at best.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump is also interested in giving Mr. Witkoff a key role in U.S. relations with Iran, according to a Trump official, which would further enhance his standing, giving him responsibilities on par with a secretary of state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Witkoff has already dipped his toe in Iran negotiations, stopping in the United Arab Emirates this week to give <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/07\/us\/politics\/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-letter-khamenei.html\" title=\"\">a letter from Mr. Trump<\/a> to a senior Emirati diplomat to pass on to Iran. The letter, addressed to Iran\u2019s supreme leader, offered to negotiate a nuclear deal with Tehran. Mr. Witkoff\u2019s role was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/03\/12\/trump-khamenei-iran-nuclear-negotiations\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">reported earlier by Axios<\/a> and confirmed by a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Witkoff has no designs on Mr. Rubio\u2019s job, according to someone close to him. Speaking to reporters this week, Mr. Rubio called Mr. Witkoff \u201ca fantastic person\u201d and said they speak regularly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During his first term, Mr. Trump sent his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to Moscow for a meeting with Mr. Putin. Given that Mr. Rubio has a record of denouncing Mr. Putin as a \u201cbutcher\u201d and a war criminal, Mr. Witkoff could be a more palatable alternative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One crucial question is whether Mr. Witkoff is negotiating with Mr. Putin or simply acting as a trusted messenger, said Thomas Graham, who served as the N.S.C.\u2019s top Russia official in the George W. Bush White House.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even that role brings risks for someone not fluent in U.S.-Russa policy, Mr. Graham said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And while Mr. Putin may be notorious for his use of confusion and misinformation, in the case of Mr. Trump his initial goal may be clarity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe concern is, does Witkoff understand exactly what Putin is telling him and convey that properly?\u201d said Mr. Graham, who recently visited Moscow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI can tell you that the Kremlin likes Witkoff because they believe that he does provide a direct channel to Trump,\u201d he added. \u201cBut they are concerned that because of this lack of Russia expertise, he doesn\u2019t fully comprehend what he\u2019s being told, and that he might convey to Trump things that are at odds with what the Russian position really is. And that can bring complications in a negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russia experts grimaced in late February, when Mr. Witkoff told reporters that a draft settlement between Russia and Ukraine negotiated during the opening days of Russia\u2019s invasion could serve as a \u201cguidepost\u201d for future negotiations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukrainian officials said the plan was a non-starter. It had been negotiated when it looked like Russia might swiftly overrun their country, they said, and would amount to near-total capitulation. Ukrainian officials believe they are now in a stronger negotiating position.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Miami last month, Mr. Kushner acknowledged the risks that Mr. Witkoff faces as a diplomatic outsider, including the prospect of embarrassment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cKnowing \u2014 to get on a plane, to go to Russia \u2014 who to trust, who not to trust, how do you feel like you\u2019re able to navigate that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The most important thing, Mr. Witkoff replied, was that \u201cI had the support of President Trump, which is a really big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/13\/us\/politics\/witkoff-trumps-russia-putin.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When President Trump appointed his friend Steven Witkoff to be his Middle East envoy last November, the choice prompted head-scratching<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[250,114,585,881,579,605,852,1321,113,400,109,606,1320],"class_list":["post-12853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us","tag-content-type-personal-profile","tag-donald-j","tag-embargoes-and-sanctions","tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","tag-peace-process","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-steven","tag-trump","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states-international-relations","tag-vladimir-v","tag-witkoff"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump Turns to an Untested Emissary, Steven Witkoff, to Engage Putin - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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