Steve Witkoff did not keep lengthy within the Russian capital.
In accordance with footage posted of his motorcade leaving and returning to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, he was right here for little greater than 12 hours.
And for many of that, it appears, he was left ready.
Trump’s fixer leaves Moscow – peace talks latest
Mr Witkoff, a former property mogul who has grow to be Donald Trump’s chief negotiator, and is sometimes called the president’s ‘fixer’, had been dispatched to Moscow to ship the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire to Vladimir Putin.
His go to had been scheduled close to the beginning of the week, following the US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.
However after arriving round lunchtime on Thursday, he was left twiddling his thumbs for no less than eight hours earlier than being known as into the Kremlin.
Mr Putin was apparently too busy assembly another person – Belarusian leader Aleksander Lukashenko – for a swiftly organized state go to that had been introduced the day earlier than.
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Is a ceasefire in Ukraine nonetheless viable?
Was ally’s go to a traditional Putin energy play?
We do not know for certain if the timing of Mr Lukashenko’s go to was deliberate, nevertheless it definitely did not really feel like a coincidence.
As an alternative, it felt like a traditional Putin energy play.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. Pic: Reuters
The Kremlin chief does not prefer to be backed right into a nook and instructed what to do, particularly on his personal turf.
This felt like a message to the Individuals – “I am the boss, I set the schedule, and I am not beholden to anybody”.
He did finally grant Mr Witkoff that all-important face time, as soon as night time had fallen and behind closed-doors.
We do not know the way lengthy they spoke for, nor the precise particulars of their dialogue, however I feel we will make a reasonably good guess given Mr Putin’s feedback earlier within the night.
At a press convention alongside Mr Lukashenko, he made it abundantly clear that he’ll solely signal as much as a ceasefire if he will get one thing in return.
And it isn’t only one factor he desires.
All Russia’s purple traces stay
By the sounds of issues, he nonetheless desires all the pieces.
His remark relating to the “root causes” of the battle suggests all of Russia’s purple traces stay – no NATO membership for Ukraine, no NATO troops as peacekeepers, and for Russia to maintain all of the territory it has seized.
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In accordance with Russian media outlet Radio Mayak, Mr Putin’s conferences within the Kremlin completed at 1.30am.
Round half an hour later, Mr Witkoff was again on the airport – leaving Russia, it appears – not with Mr Putin’s settlement however with an inventory of calls for.
It is now as much as Mr Trump to determine what to do subsequent.
