Kushner and Witkoff spontaneously enter Putin’s war game — Politico.
Putin used a mix of charm, calculated delays, and overt threats to show the American envoys Russia’s position on peace with Ukraine, the outlet writes.
Witkoff and Kushner enjoyed a walk around Moscow and lunch at an elite restaurant on Tuesday — the Russian president made them wait several hours before the meeting in the Kremlin.
While the Americans killed time, Putin spoke to the press at an investment forum, accusing Europe of derailing the peace process and hinting at future escalation.
As expected by those familiar with Putin’s habit of keeping foreign guests waiting, Tuesday’s talks began almost three hours later than the time announced by his press secretary — 5:00 p.m. In video released by the Kremlin, Putin greets Witkoff and Kushner and asks if they like Moscow; Witkoff replies, “It’s a wonderful city.” The meeting ended after midnight local time.
In a post on X, Putin’s foreign policy adviser Dmitriev, who attended the talks, called the meeting “productive.” Putin’s aide Ushakov, also present, described the conversation as “useful, constructive, and very substantive,” but added that “a lot of work lies ahead.”
Putin pointed to “destructive actions by the European side.” This may mean he will try to blame any failure of peace talks on the EU, which was conspicuously excluded from the meeting.
In the days leading up to the Moscow talks, Putin showed no signs of backing down from his demand for Ukraine’s de facto capitulation, condemning Zelenskyy as an “illegitimate” leader with whom he supposedly cannot reach a deal.
In fact, neither the earlier talks in Istanbul, nor the August summit in Alaska between Trump and Putin, nor Witkoff’s five previous visits to Moscow have led to any softening of the Kremlin’s position or its belligerent rhetoric.
———
Are we just going to ignore the fact that Putin jails and kills his political opponents and that he’s basically been a dictator for over 20 years?
We need to stop trying to make a peace deal until Moscow wants to. This is ridiculous.