From Ekspert, Dec. 3, 2025, https://expert.ru/v-mire/peregovory-nochnogo-videniya/. Complete text:

On Dec. 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin received US special envoy Steven Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in his Kremlin office. The meeting went on for nearly five hours and concluded around 12:30 a.m. The parties discussed the peace plan for Ukraine drafted by the Trump administration. Speaking to the media prior to the meeting, President Putin reiterated that Russia had no intention of attacking Europe. However, he added, if Europe “wants to go to war with Russia,” we are “ready even right now.”

What we learned after the meeting.

Presidential aide Yury Ushakov briefed the media after the meeting, saying that the discussion was constructive, substantive and quite helpful; that in the course of the five hours the parties got a chance to discuss a potential settlement to the Ukrainian conflict in detail; that Jared Kushner joined the US-Russia negotiations over Ukraine a while ago; and that the parties discussed several potential settlement plans for Ukraine. The Russian delegation reviewed the 27-point plan1 proposed by President Trump and four other documents it received from the US as a follow-up. The parties did not discuss specific formulas of the US-proposed peace plan at the meeting; instead, they focused on discussing key issues in principle.

Among other things, Ushakov said, the parties discussed “territorial issues, without the resolution of which we don’t think the crisis can be defused.” So far, the parties have not been able to find a compromise solution for Ukraine that would be acceptable to all sides. While some of the ideas put forward by the US were acceptable to Russia, there were other proposals that Vladimir Putin spoke critically of – even though he agreed with many other points. When asked whether the parties were closer to peace after the meeting or further away from it, Ushakov said, “Definitely not further away.” When asked whether Europe’s position had come up in the conversation, Ushakov said that Vladimir Putin did comment on European nations’ counterproductive activities that interfere with peace efforts in Ukraine. Also, the parties discussed prospects for Russia-US economic cooperation. Vladimir Putin asked Steven Witkoff to give Donald Trump his regards and convey a number of important political messages. When asked whether the Russian and American presidents were expected to meet soon, Ushakov explained that, for the time being, the parties agreed to communicate at the level of presidential aides and diplomats, who will have to do a lot of preparatory work first, and that the timeline for a future summit will depend on the progress they make. The US delegation told their Russian counterparts that they would visit Kiev at a later date, but right now they intend to go back to Washington.

Steven Witkoff went for a stroll around Moscow – for the sixth time.

This was the sixth time President Putin received US special envoy Steven Witkoff. This time, Witkoff was joined by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – a businessman, investor, and the founder of Affinity Partners, a private equity firm. According to US media reports, Kushner had assisted Witkoff in drafting the American 28-point peace plan for Ukraine.

Kushner was also present in Miami, Florida, on Nov. 30 – together with Steven Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – when the document was discussed with representatives of Kiev. By that time, according to Donald Trump, the plan had been trimmed down to 22 points. (This happened as a result of US-Ukraine-Europe talks in Geneva on Nov. 23.) On Dec. 1, ABC News reported, citing a source familiar with the talks, that US-Ukraine talks in Florida had hit an impasse due to some sticking points, including territorial concessions.

The Russian delegation at the Kremlin meeting included, in addition to Vladimir Putin, presidential foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriyev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the president’s special envoy for international economic and investment cooperation.

Before attending the meeting in the Kremlin, Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, accompanied by Kirill Dmitriyev, took a stroll around Red Square, admired the view of the Bolshoi Theater and dined at a restaurant. Walks around Moscow have been a regular part of the US special envoy’s visits. Earlier, he visited Old Arbat Street and Zaryadye Park and tried a “La Grande” cheburek in one of Moscow’s restaurants.

“The city authorities in Moscow are deservedly proud of what they have been able to accomplish in recent years,” Vladimir Putin said during the 50-second open part of the talks. He added that he hoped the American guests got a chance to see it for themselves. “Yes, it’s a magnificent city,” Steven Witkoff agreed.

Axios reported prior to the talks, citing its sources, that following their meeting with President Putin, Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner planned to meet with Vladimir Zelensky in Europe on Dec. 3. Later, a Ukrainian official told AFP that the meeting could take place in Brussels, although there was “no clear agreement yet.”

What Vladimir Putin said before the talks.

Prior to meeting with the US delegation, Vladimir Putin talked to the media and made a number of statements on Ukraine:

– Russia will retaliate for Kiev’s attacks on Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea by intensifying its strikes against Ukrainian sea ports and the vessels that enter those ports.

– The most radical way to stop Kiev from carrying out such attacks in the future would be to cut Ukraine off from the sea, since “this would eliminate any opportunity for Ukraine to engage in piracy.”

– “People in the Ukrainian leadership haven’t been following the situation on the battlefield closely because they are too busy with other problems right now [i.e., the Timur Mindich corruption scandal; see Vol. 77, No. 46, pp. 3-6 – Trans.]. In fact, these people seem to be living on another planet.”

– Russia doesn’t mind if European nations get involved in the peace process “as long as they accept facts on the ground.”

– European nations “are bitter because they feel left out of the talks” but in reality “nobody left them out, it was their choice to stay out,” because “they adopted the concept that they should inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, and they seem to have been living in a world of illusion ever since.”

– European nations have “no peace agenda; they are pro-war,” and “they only propose changes to Trump’s peace plan in order to stall the peace process” by “introducing demands that would be totally unacceptable to Russia.”

– Their ultimate goal is to blame Russia for the failure of the peace process.

– Russia has no intention of going to war with Europe, “but if Europe wants to go to war with us, and if they start first, we are ready even right now, no question about it.”

– Europe is different from Ukraine, because “in Ukraine, we conduct operations with surgical precision – strictly speaking, it is not even a war in the proper sense.”

– However, “if Europe decides to start a war and attacks us, very soon we may end up in a situation where there will be no one left for us to negotiate with.”

What Donald Trump said while the talks were going on.

While the talks were taking place in the Kremlin, US President Donald Trump conducted a cabinet meeting in the White House, where he made a number of statements:

– On Ukraine: “Not an easy situation.*** But we are trying to get that settled.”

– “I’ve settled eight wars. This would be the ninth. And our people are over in Russia right now to see if we can get it settled.”

– The US is “not involved in the war monetarily anymore.”

– “[Former US president Joe] Biden gave away $350 billion like it was candy.”

– “That’s a massive amount of money. And much of it in cash, a lot of it in equipment.”

– Biden emptied out the strategic oil reserves, which are “not meant to keep people happy with the gasoline price, they’re meant for war, they’re meant for problems, big problems.”

‘Russia enters negotiations over the US peace plan from a position of strength.’

Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics and an expert with the Valdai [International Discussion] Club. – The purpose of Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Moscow is to open a substantive discussion of the peace plan that was initially drafted by the Trump administration and later amended after the Geneva talks between the US, Ukraine and Europe, as well as the US-Ukraine talks in Florida. The goal is to figure out what a potential compromise might look like – what would and what would not be acceptable to Russia.

The fact that the US will be represented by special envoy Steven Witkoff, who is accompanied this time by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and trusted adviser, is a highly positive detail, which greatly enhances the chances of reaching an agreement.

Had the peace talks been conducted through official diplomatic channels, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio running the show, they would have been doomed to fail. Witkoff and Kushner, on the other hand, are not held back by the traditional mindset of the US foreign policy establishment. They don’t share the Russophobic sentiment that has been pervasive in US officialdom and the deep state since the days of the cold war.

Also enhancing the chances of a successful resolution is the fact that the US and Ukraine failed to come to an agreement on a number of crucial issues:

– Ukraine amending its constitution to abandon its NATO aspirations and embracing neutrality

– the territorial issue, including Ukraine pulling its troops from the Donetsk Basin

– security guarantees for Ukraine.

By the way, the Kiev regime has not given up its territorial claims. They still hope that the Europeans will help them persuade the Trump administration that there should be a ceasefire along the current front line. If they succeed, and the peace deal fails, Donald Trump will be likely to blame Russia, not Ukraine, because Russia, obviously, will never agree to let Ukraine keep its forces in place.

Since Washington and Kiev failed to reach a final agreement on these issues, the US can be more flexible at the talks in Moscow, which means that the White House and the Kremlin might be able to find common ground on these – as well as many other – issues.

If they manage to do it, Russia and the US may present their consolidated position to Ukraine and Europe as a fait accompli, and then Kiev and Brussels will face a choice: Either they accept the terms of the deal (which they are reluctant to do), or they turn the deal down and suffer the consequences.

If they accept the peace deal, the Zelensky regime will probably collapse and we will probably see major political crises in Europe’s leading countries. On the other hand, if they reject the peace plan, the US will probably cut intelligence sharing and weapons supplies for Ukraine, thus speeding up Kiev’s inevitable defeat on the battlefield.

Less than 24 hours before he met with the US delegation in the Kremlin, our president sent a very important message. Vladimir Putin, as the supreme commander in chief of the Russian Armed Forces, visited a command center of the Russian forces participating in the special military operation, where he was given reports about a whole series of crucial military victories.

We have liberated Krasnoarmeisk (aka Pokrovsk) and Volchansk; we continue eliminating the Ukrainian forces in Kupyansk; and we have entered Gulyaipolye. Importantly, all these things happened simultaneously, which indicates a fundamental shift in the situation on the battlefield. Russia is very close to winning, and the Ukrainian front is about to collapse.

This is a message to US negotiators, among others. Russia will never agree to major concessions. It will never abandon the fundamental objectives of its special military operation, because it is absolutely confident that it can achieve its objectives through military means. Thus, Russia enters negotiations over the US peace plan from a position of strength, indicating that it would be willing to achieve its objectives through peaceful means, as long as the Trump administration shows flexibility.

1[During the past three weeks, the negotiators have mainly referred to a 28-point plan (see Vol. 77, No. 47, pp. 3-7); it is unclear whether Ushakov spoke of a ‘27-point plan’ by mistake or in reference to a different version. – Trans.]