US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff gave a strange interview to Tucker Carlson, in which he adopted Russian narratives about the war and commented on the future of Ukrainian regions he can't even pronounce, writes focus.de.
The US special envoy said that the biggest obstacle to resolving the war in Ukraine is the status of Crimea and the four Russian-occupied regions in Ukraine.
Witkoff called this issue the “elephant in the room“ in the peace talks. He didn't even know the names of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. “They are Russian-speaking“, said the US special envoy for the territories illegally occupied by Russia. “There were referendums in which the vast majority of people said they wanted to be under Russian rule“, said the US special envoy.
However, these “referendums“ were not legal and are not recognized by international law. They were carried out under duress, including the one in Crimea for the annexation of the peninsula. Thus, the special envoy directly adopted the narrative of the aggressor Russia.
Witkoff, who is a real estate manager with no diplomatic experience, also expects a personal meeting between Kremlin chief Vladimir and US President Donald Trump in the coming months.
Steve Witkoff spoke favorably of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. According to Witkoff, there is trust between Trump and Putin and "a conflict with a major nuclear power can only be resolved through talks."
The Trump administration has so far spoken flatteringly of Putin, while taking an aggressive tone against Volodymyr Zelensky and the invaded Ukraine. According to military and political analysts, Trump is falling into Putin's trap. The Russian president wants prolonged negotiations and an extension of the war because he believes time is on his side.