Trump defends Witkoff: “That's what a negotiator does” / Russia accuses Europe of a hybrid war

US President Donald Trump has defended his special envoy Steve Witkoff, saying he did “the usual thing” after a leaked phone call appeared to show he advised a Kremlin official on how to approach the US president on the Ukraine peace plan. At the same time, Russia said on Wednesday that this leak of a phone conversation between top advisers to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was “an unacceptable attempt to undermine” the peace negotiations for Ukraine and “belongs to a hybrid war”.

Bloomberg News published on Tuesday the transcript of a telephone conversation that took place on October 14 in which Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, advised Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, on how to present the peace plan for Ukraine to Trump, notes News.ro. Bloomberg said it had reviewed the recording, but did not say how it obtained access to a highly sensitive conversation between senior officials of the world's two biggest nuclear powers.

Ushakov stated that his discussions with Witkoff were not intended for publication and should not have been disclosed. “It is unacceptable,” Ushakov told Russian media. He stated that the disclosure of the information was clearly intended to prevent talks between Russia and the United States, writes Reuters.

“A malicious media machine”

In an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, Ushakov said that some of his discussions took place through encrypted government channels, which are rarely intercepted and disclosed unless one of the parties deliberately intends to do so. “There are certain conversations on WhatsApp that, in general, could be listened to by someone,” admitted Ushakov. He ruled out the possibility that the leak came from the participants in the call and said he would discuss the matter with Witkoff.

Kirill Dmitriev, the director general of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Putin's investment emissary, said Bloomberg's report of the Oct. 29 conversation between him and Ushakov was a “fake.” Apparently angered by the leak, Dmitriev complained about a “malicious, well-funded and well-organized media machine created to spread false narratives, discredit opponents and keep people confused.”

For his part, Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, accused that some media organizations are being used in a hybrid information war waged by European countries against Russia, with the aim of undermining relations with Washington.

The main Kremlin reporter of the Russian newspaper Kommersant, who interviewed Ushakov, titled his article: “Who set this up for Steve Witkoff?”.

Trump defends Witkoff

Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he had not listened to the audio recording, but that Witkoff was doing “what a negotiator does” to “sell” the peace plan to both Russia and Ukraine, reports the BBC. Trump said the brief conversation was a “very standard form of negotiation.”

The leaked recording comes days after a 28-point draft peace plan presented by the US largely reflected Russia's positions on the full-scale war in Ukraine.

Witkoff has visited Moscow several times this year and will meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin again next week.

He has never traveled to Kiev as a special envoy, although other US officials have visited the Ukrainian capital, and US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was in Kiev last week and is expected again this week.

For his part, Trump confirmed that he will hold additional talks with the Ukrainians.

Diplomatic negotiations continued after the initial draft of the plan was criticized by Ukrainian and European leaders as too favorable to Russia. Among the proposals is the transfer to Russia of territories controlled by Ukraine in the east of the country.

The plan was revised to better reflect Ukraine's interests and the views of its European allies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to meet with Trump to discuss the “sensitive points” that remained in limbo.