Shocking behind-the-scenes talks between the US and Russia. “Churchill and Reagan are rolling in their graves”
In Saturday's text, “WSJ” describes the months-long attempts of Russians, especially Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, to spread the prospect of lucrative business in Russia to representatives of the Trump administration. According to the daily, developed by three negotiators, businessmen by profession – Steve Witkoff, the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Dmitriev – the peace plan for Ukraine actually went well beyond reaching a settlement to end the conflict.
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“Privately, they were paving the path to pull Russia's $2 trillion economy out of crisis — and American companies would be the first to overtake European competitors in the fight for dividends,” the newspaper writes. “By tempting with multi-billion contracts for rare earths and energy, Moscow could change the economic map of Europe – while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies,” he adds. For the Kremlin, it would also be a way to bypass traditional diplomatic channels and concentrate talks on a narrow group of Trump's business advisors.
In this context, the daily quotes the words of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during talks with Western leaders about the US peace plan. — We know this isn't about peace. It's about business, the daily quotes Tusk.
Shocking report after meeting in Alaska
The newspaper also reports that after Donald Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, one of the European intelligence agencies sent a report to officials of other European countries that was intended to “shock” them.
“It included details of the Trump administration's trade and economic plans with Russia, including joint mining of rare earth elements in the Arctic,” we read. In addition to some administration officials, European officials were to be omitted in the context of the talks. “WSJ” recalls a situation when Witkoff refused to talk to them via a secure connection, claiming that he traveled too often to use the inconvenient system.
As “WSJ” points out, Witkoff, Kushner, and a number of American businessmen believed in the vision put forward by the Kremlin.
“Russia has so many huge resources, huge swaths of land,” Witkoff told the newspaper, describing his hopes that Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. will become business partners. — If we do all this, and everyone thrives and is part of it, and everyone benefits from it, then it will naturally become a bulwark against future conflicts. Because everyone will prosper, he explained. “WSJ” also describes a situation when, after Trump's refusal to transfer Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, Witkoff advised Kiev to seek a 10-year exemption from customs duties instead of the missiles, because this would give an impulse to the Ukrainian economy.
“I'm in the deal-making business. That's why I'm here, said Trump's envoy.
American companies are preparing to return to Russia
The daily describes the efforts of a number of American companies and businessmen to prepare for their return to Russia. Oligarchs close to Putin, including Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk and the brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, were to send their representatives to meetings with American businesses on the extraction of raw materials in Russia. According to a Western security official quoted by the daily, they offered concessions for gas extraction in the Sea of Okhotsk and four other places, as well as for the extraction of rare earths near Norilsk and in Siberia.
The person willing to take over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a donor to the Trump campaign, investor Stephen Lynch, who paid PLN 600,000. hole. a lobbyist associated with the president's son, Donald Jr., to obtain a license for this deal. Another friend of Donald Jr., businessman Gentry Beach, is said to be in talks to purchase shares in a gas extraction project in the Russian Arctic. In turn, the deputy director of ExxonMobil was to negotiate with the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin in Qatar, to return to investing in the large Sakhalin 2 project. This project was suspended due to sanctions imposed in 2022. ExxonMobil, investor Todd Boehly and others were also to talk about the purchase of the assets of Lukoil, which is subject to sanctions.
As the newspaper writes, there is no evidence that these businessmen coordinated their activities with Trump's team. Nevertheless, the “WSJ” article aroused sharply critical comments from supporters of a tough stance towards Russia.
“Today's WSJ. Multi-billion dollar business deals between Russian and American billionaires that force Ukraine to give Russia more lands, turn Ukraine into a Russian vassal,” said Republican congressman Don Bacon on Platform X. “Greed is put before Ukrainian sovereignty. Churchill and Reagan are turning in their graves,” he added.
