The negotiations on it have become a soap opera more typical of the Cold War with leaks, wiretaps, ultimatums, hoaxes and doubts about the authorship of the document called to solve the most serious conflict that has occurred on the European continent since the Second World War.
According to reports it all started in mid-October after the initiative in Gaza by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who ordered the preparation of a similar road map for Ukraine.
Secret consultations with Putin’s emissary
The White House envoy, , and the president’s son-in-law, , got to work on the 28-point plan.
The press claims that they had the collaboration of the Kremlin’s economic emissary, Kiril Dmitriev, who expressly traveled to Miami at the end of October, just after Trump approved the sanctions against the largest Russian oil companies.
The emissary has known Kushner personally for many years and has actively participated since February in the normalization negotiations in Saudi Arabia.
Dmitriev, who reported on his trip on social media, proposed several key points that he spoke publicly about in statements to American television, such as the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas, kyiv’s resignation from NATO, the reduction in the size of the Ukrainian army and the Russian refusal to cease hostilities.
In fact, when the plan was leaked, which would later be modified by kyiv and the Europeans, Witkoff suggested on social networks that the culprit had been ‘K’, alluding to Kiril Dmitriev.
Upon his return, the Russian had a conversation with the Kremlin’s advisor for international policy, Yuri Ushakov, which has been published by the Bloomberg agency.
In it, he tries to calm Ushakov that said plan will not in any case be presented as Russian, but as American, even if it includes the Kremlin’s position.
“Let them present it as their own. I believe that (in any case) it will not take our complete version, but at least it will be as similar as possible,” he said.
Witkoff’s advice to the Kremlin
Bloomberg also publishes the telephone conversation held in mid-October between Witkoff and Ushakov, in which the former informed him of the idea of drawing up a 20-point plan “as we did in Gaza.”
Furthermore, he advises that the Russian president, , call Trump before the visit of the Ukrainian leader, , and congratulate him on the peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and call him a “man of peace.”
“It may be that he (Putin) will tell President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri studied a very good 20-point peace plan and this may be what breaks the situation out of the deadlock,” he said.
Witkoff, who said he respected Putin “deeply”, assured “among us” that for peace the Russians need Donetsk and the exchange of some territories.
Trump himself, who finally denied Zelensky the supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles, acknowledged that Putin had congratulated him during the telephone conversation on October 16.
Ushakov was outraged today with the leak of his conversations, while both Trump and the White House defended Witkoff by assuring that “it is common.”
“This is unacceptable, of course, in this type of contact, when such serious matters are being discussed,” said Ushakov, who promised to talk about it with Witkoff.
“This is unacceptable, of course, in this type of contact, when such serious matters are being discussed”
Who wrote the plan?
Doubts about the authorship of the plan began with its leak by Axios on November 18. Suspicions arose because the document included most of the Kremlin’s demands presented by Putin to Trump at the Alaska summit.
The press and analysts assured when cross-checking it with the help of Artificial Intelligence that the documents had been translated from Russian to English.
At first, US officials themselves did not clarify the doubt about the origin of the plan, described as the Russians’ “wish list” by the US Secretary of State, in conversation with a group of senators.
“The peace proposal was drafted by the United States. It is offered as a solid framework for the ongoing negotiations. It is based on contributions from the Russian side, but also on previous and ongoing contributions from Ukraine,” Rubio replied on Sunday in X.
In this regard, The Wall Street Journal points out that the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Rustem Umérov, was also invited to Miami, where he expressed his concerns to his interlocutors because the plan clearly benefited Russia.
Be that as it may, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll threatened kyiv with suspending arms supplies and intelligence sharing if it did not approve the plan.
Putin commented on November 21 that the document in question is, in reality, “a new wording, in fact a modernized plan, already with 28 points,” based on what was discussed by Moscow and Washington even before Alaska.
Trump contributed more to the confusion by assuring this Wednesday that the document “is not a plan,” but rather a framework document that had 28 points and now 22, and affirming that the Thanksgiving Day ultimatum is now off the table.
The latest: complaints and versions
This morning, EFE reports, Russia has complained about the leaks and the different versions of the document that are being received. Thus, the Kremlin admitted today that it has received “several versions” of the peace plan for Ukraine proposed by the United States, but clarified that all of them through “unofficial channels.” “It has been through unofficial channels. It is not official, but it is on paper,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advisor for international policy, Yuri Ushakov, in statements to Russian television.
He explained that there are “several roles, several versions, in which one can even get confused.” “Let’s say, we got some latest versions. I think so,” Ushakov said. He added that Moscow “has not debated with anyone” the peace plan proposed by Washington, because “it really requires serious analysis.” “Some points can be seen positively, but there are many things that demand debate among experts,” Ushakov said.
“Some points can be seen positively, but there are many things that demand a debate between experts”
In turn, he confirmed that representatives of the Russian secret services held consultations this week in Abu Dhabi with the Secretary of the US Army, Dan Driscoll, but there were no negotiations on the content of the peace plan.
The same spokesman has described as “unacceptable” the leaks of his telephone conversations with the US envoy, Witkoff, some of which he considered “false.” “This is unacceptable, of course, in this type of contact, when such serious matters are being discussed,” he told the Russian press from Bishkek, where he is on an official visit, according to the Interfax agency. President Putin’s advisor reiterated that “his conversations with Witkoff are confidential and should not be revealed.”
Ushakov complained that he does not know how to conduct negotiations with partners who leak information, so he said he will speak by phone with Witkoff about leaks of their telephone conversations to the media.
