Steve Witkoff, a businessman at the center of global diplomacy: “He is a Trump crony with many conflicts of interest”

Some leaked audios from Steve Witkoff reveal their servile way of negotiating with Russia. This is a telephone conversation between the special envoy of Donald Trump for Ukraine and its counterpart, Yuri Ushakovthe foreign policy advisor of Vladimir Putin. Witkoff gave him all the tricks to advance the Kremlin’s agenda in the White House and finally keep the conquered areas of Ukraine.

He recommended that Putin flattered Trump to soften him up. He even gave him strategic advice to annoy Volodímir Zelenski. He suggested that the Russian president call Trump before the Ukrainian’s visit to the White House, in which he intended to obtain long-range missiles. And so it was: Putin called Trump and Washington finally rejected Ukraine’s request. Shortly after, a peace plan drawn up by the United States and Russia was put into circulation with 28 points that seemed more like a Kremlin wish list. It included, among other Ukrainian capitulations, the surrender of the unconquered territories of Donbas even to the Russian invader as a condition for the end of hostilities.

Those audios exposed which side of the conflict the Trump Administration is more inclined towards in this conflict.

Steve Witkoff (New York, 1957) is a multimillionaire that has kneaded his wealth (estimated at $2 billion) as real estate developerjust like Trump. And like Trump, he grew up in New York and is a fan of golf and Florida, where Witkoff has his residence and the president, his Mar-a-Lago mansion. For all this, and much more, Trump and Witkoff are close friends for years. The Jewish businessman was one of the main donors to the Republican’s presidential campaign.

Conflict of interest

“Witkoff is a fairly typical creature of late Trumpism (the second Administration): he is literally a crony with whom he has business; with him and with his children. That is why he is doing diplomacy in all parts of the planet, while maintaining investments that in any other country would represent an unsustainable conflict of interest,” he says in conversation with EL PERIÓDICO Roger Senserrichpolitical scientist based in the United States and author of ‘Why Did America Broke?’. “And, like others in the Administration, Witkoff does not seem to have the slightest idea of ​​what he is doing. It is incomprehensible that he is still there, being Putin’s great defender within the Administration.”

This Tuesday, Trump’s envoy traveled to Moscow accompanied by another of those “typical creatures” of the Trump Administration that Senserrich refers to: Jared Kushner, the president’s “son-in-law.” Both had the mission of discussing with Putin the counterproposal to the 19-point peace plan that Ukraine had put on the table, modifying the initial Russian-American proposal.

The Russian president had them sightseeing in Moscow while they waited several hours to be treated. He then held a long meeting with them to send them back to Washington almost empty-handed. Differences persist despite the “constructive” conversation, in the words of the Kremlin. It was Witkoff’s umpteenth attempt to guide peace talks that Trump promised to consummate “within 24 hours” if he reached the White House.

“Witkoff’s initial proposal for Ukraine, and all his conversations, seem to be very marked by investment, business and economic relations proposals with Russia completely unrealistic and absurdly corrupt, with the feeling that all those who negotiate will have relatives investing,” says Senserrich. “This goes against the consensus in the way of doing foreign policy in the United States for decades. Witkoff is thus part of a White House that is being sold to the highest bidder.”

Gaza’s ‘success’

Witkoff, also in tandem with Kushnerachieved some top-level diplomacy with the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, sealed with pomp and pageantry by Donald Trump with the negotiating countries (Turkey, Egypt and Qatar) on October 13 in Egypt.

In reality, more than a peace plan, it is a precarious ceasefire that Israel violates daily (about 300 Palestinians have died in attacks by the Israeli Army since the signing) but that At least it has stopped the massacre in Gaza. It is clearly favorable to the interests of the strongest party, Israel. It is full of thinly disguised economic interests for the companies of the countries that have created it and, some fear, for the American negotiators themselves. Kushner has substantial businesses in Arab countries.

That model of the peace of the strongest (and lucrative) that Witkoff seems to also want to extend for the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Other special envoys

The figure of the special envoy is not unusual. There has been international ‘czars’ in previous administrations. Bill Clinton appointed George Mitchell as special envoy for Northern Ireland. Barack Obama trusted veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke to be his special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, or Mitchell himself as envoy for peace in the Middle East. Joe Biden created the position of special presidential climate envoy for John Kerry.

“What is relatively unusual is his fit with the Secretary of State. Every time Witkoff goes with a proposal, he must then go Marco Rubio correcting it. This Administration is a sum of niches with people who have their own agendas,” says Senserrich.

Furthermore, the figure of Witkoff arrives after a great purge within the State Department. Career and experienced diplomats have been expelled. The foreign policy of the most powerful country in the world has remained in the hands of family members, loyal politicians or friends of the president. Like Steve Witkoff.

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