The article from The Guardian on November 25 reported that a leaked phone call recording showed that Trump's envoy Wittkower proactively proposed that Donetsk must be ceded to Russia during a call with Russian President Putin's advisor Ushakov in mid-October.

The content of this call is very clear, and the US is not urging Russia to make concessions, but rather setting the negotiation terms for Russia in advance.

Wittkower also advised Russia to maintain an optimistic public statement and guided Putin to communicate with Trump at the appropriate time, so as to create a positive atmosphere before Zelenskyy's visit to the White House.

From the content of the recording, this behavior is clearly not a traditional mediation effort, but rather the US actively promising benefits to Russia and pre-defining the areas Ukraine must retreat from at a strategic level.

The attitude of the American envoy seems more eager than Russia itself, going to great lengths for Russia's interests.

Overall, this multilateral negotiation was essentially conceived by the Trump team and then submitted to Moscow as a draft, which is a typical script for major powers dividing smaller countries.

Wittkower and Putin

Russia has always liked Wittkower. He was originally Trump's special envoy for Middle East issues and now mainly handles relations with Russia. His style of handling matters is indeed popular, at least from Russia's perspective.

The Trump side clearly shows urgency, hoping to quickly achieve results to allow Trump to boast about it. Wittkower is quite competent, not hiding Trump's impatience at all.

This is exactly what Russia wants to see. The more you are in a hurry, the less I am. As long as I can remain calm, even if I don't speak, someone will arrange things for me.

Russia probably didn't expect that after Trump returns to the White House, there could be such good fortune. It was thought that he would just be less anti-Russian than Biden, but it turned out he is pro-Russian to this extent.

Russian and American flags

This phone conversation content almost completely overlaps with the recently concentrated discussion of the 28-point plan. The core clauses include ceding the entire Donetsk region to Russia, legalizing the current status of Luhansk and Crimea, and freezing the frontline in Kherson and Zaporozhye.

These contents have already been hinted at in Wittkower's call, indicating that this plan is not the product of a three-party negotiation, but rather a template designed internally by the US and provided to Russia.

The structure of the plan is not mutual concessions for peace, but rather Ukraine's concessions for a ceasefire, while Russia gains territory, security buffer, and international recognition.

This content is almost equivalent to supplementing the achievements that Russia cannot easily obtain on the battlefield through diplomatic means.

What about the Russian demands that the US did not consider? It is said that the content is not in the plan, like a direct machine translation from Russian, which means that unthought-of demands can also be raised by Russia themselves, translated and added, which is no big deal.

Trump

Currently, although the plan has been modified by Ukraine and Europe to some extent, throughout the negotiation process, Russia's attitude and position are clearly at the top, as if the US were its subordinate.

The atmosphere presented in the recording is not the US pressuring Russia, but rather the US envoy reporting to and seeking approval from Russia.

In the call, Wittkower's tone was more like requesting Russia's cooperation so that the US could smoothly push forward its plan.

After the call, the US and Russian envoys reached an agreement. Then the US, like a subordinate of Russia, took the plan translated from Russian and forced Europe and Ukraine to sign it.

This is indeed very surreal, but it also indicates that the agreement is likely difficult to sign. The US is pleasing Russia on one hand and pressuring Ukraine on the other. This is not how mediation should be, it is not based on politics, but on performance.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7576930335141691967/

Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author. Welcome to express your opinion by clicking on the 【top/down】 button below.