American outlet Bloomberg published a transcript from the phone call between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin that was held on the 14th of October, the day after Trump spoke at the Knesset following the Gaza deal. The timing of the phone call also took place before US President Trump met with Zelensky.Â
On the call, Witkoff said to Ushakov that he believed the Ukrainian land concessions in Donbass were necessary, while advising Ushakov to congratulate Trump and frame discussions more optimistically. He also advised him to make a call before Trump met with Zelensky.
In response to the publicized phone call, Trump said it is in line with standard negotiations, explaning that ‘you need to sell the deal to both sides.’
The call began with Ushakov congratulating Witkoff on the success of the Gaza deal, to which Witkoff responsed, “I know your country supported it and I thank you.”
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Witkoff then offered his advice to the Russian aide.
“I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace, and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen. So I would say that. I think from that it’s going to be a really good call,” he said.Â
“Because let me tell you what I told the President. I told the president that you — that the Russian Federation — have always wanted a peace deal. That’s my belief. I told the president I believe that. And I believe the issue is that we have two nations that are having a hard time coming to a compromise, and when we do, we’re going to have a peace deal,” he added.
Witkoff also mentioned setting out a 20-point peace proposal, “just like we did in Gaza.”Â
“We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace, and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you,” he said.Â
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Ushkov responded that the plan was something the leaders could discuss. He also agreed that Putin should congratulate Trump and tell him he is a man of peace.
“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done,” Witkoff continued. “Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere. But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here. And I think the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal.”
Witkoff also reccomended to Oshokov that Putin call the President before Zelensky visited the White House that Friday
In a separate phone call recorded October 29th and obtained by Bloomberg, Ushakov called Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev to discuss peace talks.Â
At some point during the conversation, Dmitriev offered, “I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do it like their own. I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.”
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“Well, that’s exactly the point. They might not take it and say that it was agreed upon with us. That’s what I’m afraid of,” Ushakov responded. “They might twist it later, that’s all. There is that risk. Well, alright, never mind. We’ll see,” he added.
“Yeah, it seems to me you can talk later with Steve about this paper. We will do everything neatly,” Dmitriev responded.