WILL TRUMP MEET PUTIN?
A summit between the two powers could mean the start of a resolution to the Ukraine War
President Donald Trump stunned the world a few days ago when he said that he intends to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible to discuss a much-needed ceasefire in Russia’s more than three-year-old war with Ukraine. It was not clear who initiated the invitation but the president’s assertion came a few days after special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow.
I was told the summit, if it comes off, will be due to Witkoff’s efforts. He has worked with Trump and befriended him decades ago. Like Trump’s father, Witkoff made money early in his career investing in tenements in the Bronx and Washington Heights. At one point his company owned more than three thousand apartments in New York City.
“Putin talks to Witkoff because he understands he’s got power and speaks for the boss,” a knowledgeable US official told me. He said it was Witkoff who understood that the way to get Putin’s attention was to cut off his access to the oil markets in India and China by increasing the US secondary tariffs on both buyers. Interest rates in Russia have risen to 18 percent and the economy, hit hard by the cost of the ongoing war, is limping along in part due to Putin’s ability to keep on selling government bonds to Russian banks.
The official told me that in essence Witkoff “has said to Putin: You need the oil money and we can control the market.”
