US concerned on secret meeting between Trump's associates and Putin ally in Miami - Reuters
Photo: Russian "special envoy" Kirill Dmitriev (Getty Images)
US officials and members of Congress are concerned about a meeting between representatives of the Trump team and Kirill Dmitriev, an ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to Reuters.
The meeting took place in Miami at the end of October. It was attended by US President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Kirill Dmitriev, an ally of Vladimir Putin.
The Trump team issued Dmitriev a special entry permit, as Dmitriev and his fund were placed on the US sanctions list in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Two people familiar with the matter said that the meeting resulted in the development of a 28-point plan aimed at ending the war.
Journalists note that it is unclear whether Dmitriev arrived in Miami with specific demands from Russia, and whether any of them were included in the plan.
It was also reported that Ukraine’s national security and defence council secretary Rustem Umerov was in Miami at the time.
A source familiar with the situation said that Witkoff briefed Umerov on the plan during his visit, and that the United States allegedly passed the plan to Ukraine through the Turkish government on Wednesday, followed by a direct presentation in Kyiv on Thursday, 20 November.
Umerov described his role as "technical" and denied having discussed the substance of the plan with US officials.
Who was kept unaware of the plan's development
According to two people familiar with the plan, many senior officials in the US State Department and the National Security Council were not informed about the work on it.
Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, who had been working with Ukrainian officials on ceasefire negotiations, was also excluded from the talks conducted by Witkoff and Dmitriev, they said.
A senior US official stated that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been briefed on the 28-point plan, without specifying when.
The meeting raised concern inside the US administration and in Congress, where officials fear that Witkoff and Kushner bypassed interagency procedures and that their discussion with Dmitriev may have produced a plan favourable to Russia.
Trump's 'peace plan'
The United States has drafted a new "peace plan" for ending the war in Ukraine, consisting of 28 points.
According to the document, Ukraine would be required to withdraw from Donbas, reduce its armed forces, abandon long-range weapons and take several additional steps. In exchange, the country would receive security guarantees modelled on NATO.
Kyiv has a deadline until 27 November to accept the proposal.
Meanwhile, the European Council has officially said that the US plan could serve as a basis for peace, but it requires significant revisions.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, together with European leaders, is working to amend the document before 27 November to ensure it is fair for Kyiv.
