【By Guan Cha Zhe Wang, Yuan Jiaqi】
Initially, the United States put forward the "28-point peace plan," which caught Ukraine and its European allies off guard. Earlier reports by U.S. media, Bloomberg, revealed that this plan, accused of being "biased towards Russia," was the result of weeks of backchannel negotiations between the U.S. special envoy for Middle East affairs, Wittkopf, and Russia's presidential special representative, Dmitriyev.
On November 25, local time, Bloomberg further reported that last month, Wittkopf had called a senior Russian official and proposed cooperation in drafting a Ukrainian peace plan, suggesting that Russian President Putin directly present this idea to Trump.
Leaked call records obtained by U.S. media showed that Wittkopf also instructed Russian officials, telling them that praising Trump would help advance the conversation about the Ukraine war.
For this, the Kremlin has not responded yet, but the White House's attitude is intriguing. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, when asked about this matter, the White House did not question the authenticity of the call records, but instead praised the effectiveness of Wittkopf's communication with the Russians.
When asked about Wittkopf's negotiation approach, Trump said he had not seen the content of the call, but called it a "standard negotiation."
"He needs to sell this plan to Ukraine and get Russia to accept Ukraine's conditions, which is what someone who facilitates a deal should do," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "You have to tell both sides, 'Look, they want this, you have to convince them to accept.' I guess he probably said the same thing to Ukraine, because negotiations need to be two-way."
The leftmost is the Russian president's senior foreign policy advisor Usakov, the Russian economic advisor Dmitriyev, and the U.S. envoy Wittkopf. Russian media
According to Bloomberg's disclosure, taking advantage of the momentum of the Gaza ceasefire, during a five-minute phone call on October 14, Wittkopf provided specific guidance to the Russian president's assistant Yuri Usakov, suggesting that Russia propose to Trump a plan similar to the "20-point Gaza peace plan" for the Ukraine issue.
According to the transcribed call content, Wittkopf told Usakov, "We have developed a 20-point Trump peace plan. I was thinking, maybe we can also develop a similar plan."
U.S. media pointed out that at the time of the call, Trump was full of confidence due to his success in pushing for the Gaza ceasefire. The day before, he facilitated the release of the last 20 hostages held by Hamas, and became the first U.S. president since 2008 to deliver a speech in the Israeli parliament.
In the phone call, Wittkopf further stated that Putin could speak with Trump just before泽连斯基's visit to the U.S. on October 17, using the Gaza agreement as a starting point. He advised Putin to congratulate Trump for achieving the Gaza peace agreement, express Russia's support for it, and praise Trump as a "peacemaker."
"In that case, the call will definitely go very smoothly," Wittkopf said.
"I think that's a great idea," he continued, "maybe he (Putin) can say to President Trump: You know, Steve (Wittkopf) and Yuri (Usakov) discussed a very similar 20-point peace plan, and we think it might have some effect. We are open to such things."
Bloomberg believes that this phone call is the origin of the U.S.-Russia "28-point peace plan," as the call records show that the two discussed territorial concessions, implying that Ukraine should give up the entire Donetsk region.
"Frankly speaking, the key to reaching a peace agreement lies in Donetsk, and perhaps some territorial exchange will be needed somewhere," Wittkopf said in the call. "But I mean, rather than talking so directly, it's better to communicate in a more constructive way, because I believe we can eventually reach an agreement."
"The president gives me a lot of space and autonomy to facilitate this deal," he added. "So if we can create such an opportunity, I think it might lead to significant progress."
"Okay," Usakov replied, "that sounds good."
The report states that two days later, at Russia's request, Trump spoke with Putin. After the call, Trump evaluated the two-and-a-half-hour call as "very productive." He also announced plans to hold a U.S.-Russia summit in Budapest and mentioned that Putin congratulated him on achieving the Gaza agreement.
Usakov also introduced the details of the summit call, stating that Putin began the call by congratulating Trump on "successfully normalizing the situation in Gaza."
U.S. media reports also state that after the call, Wittkopf met with another high-level Kremlin advisor - Kirill Dmitriyev, the president's special representative for foreign investment and economic cooperation. Dmitriyev stayed in Miami for three days.
Another recorded call obtained by Bloomberg shows that on October 29, Dmitriyev spoke in Russian with Usakov about how Russia should strongly present its demands in the peace proposal.
Usakov advocated for maximizing benefits when submitting demands to the White House. He told his colleague that he was worried that the U.S. might misinterpret Russia's proposal or delete parts of it and claim that an agreement had been reached, leading to the collapse of the negotiations.
Dmitriyev suggested submitting a document in an informal manner and expressed confidence that even if the U.S. would not fully adopt Russia's version, it would come up with a very similar plan. He also assured Usakov that he would strictly follow instructions when speaking, and that Usakov could then connect with Wittkopf for details of the document.
However, Bloomberg says that it is currently not possible to confirm what specific proposals Russia submitted, and the extent to which these proposals influenced the "28-point plan."
The Kremlin has not yet responded to the reporting content. However, Dmitriyev posted on social media that the report was "fake news."
Recently, there has been conflicting opinions about who initially led the "28-point peace plan": U.S. Secretary of State Rubio first claimed that the U.S.-Russia plan "was not U.S. policy," and then changed his statement, saying that the plan was drafted by the U.S., and that it was "based" on the views of both Russia and Ukraine.
However, Reuters cited multiple sources who said that at the negotiation table where the plan was finalized, not only were Ukraine and European representatives "absent throughout," but also Rubio and U.S. Ukraine special envoy Kellogg were excluded, and even Trump himself found out "at the last minute."
Following the weekend's Geneva talks, a new "19-point peace plan" between the U.S. and Ukraine emerged. Alexander Kyslytsya, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, revealed that this new draft had "almost no similarity" with the "28-point plan" and "very little of the original content remained."
On the 23rd, delegations from the United States, Ukraine, and European countries held talks in Geneva. Oriental IC
On Tuesday evening, Trump posted on his social platform "Truth Social" that the initial version of the "28-point peace plan" drafted by the U.S. had been adjusted and optimized by incorporating the views of Ukraine and Russia, and that "only a few points remain to be resolved."
"Politico" reported on the 25th that regardless of the final form of the "peace agreement," Trump's main goal is one — ending the Ukraine war. A White House official said that Trump "has no red lines," and that the war could end as long as both sides agreed.
On the 26th, NBC reported that there are serious divisions within the Trump administration regarding how to end the Ukraine war, and that behind this struggle, there is a potential contest for the 2028 presidential election: the rivalry between Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio.
According to current and former officials, Vance, Wittkopf, and Army Secretary Driscoll believe that Ukraine is the main obstacle to peace, and advocate using American influence to force Kyiv to make major compromises; while Rubio and others consider Russia the culprit of the conflict, and argue that only by making Russia pay penalties for "aggression" can it be made to compromise.
U.S. media said that under the background of his aides, Republican legislators, and European allies vying for support, Trump's attitude toward the Ukraine issue has also been fluctuating. A former senior U.S. diplomat told NBC, "This internal division has been evident, but never as openly displayed as in the past few days."
This article is exclusive to Guan Cha Zhe Wang, and without permission, it cannot be reprinted.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7576949991290176052/
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