Witkoff will undertake a nearly impossible mission in Moscow.
While the US-Russian bilateral relations have improved markedly over what they collapsed to during the Joe Biden administration from hell, at this point in time, we’ve come to a point where all the advances made so far may be erased.
A war of words, the threat of sanctions and secondary tariffs, the interruption of the regular meetings to normalize diplomatic relations… many developments are now pointing in the wrong direction.
Now, it arises that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will be visiting Moscow on Wednesday to try to reboot the peace process.
It’s unclear what even the very capable Witkoff can accomplish just two days before the deadline for new US sanctions on Russia.
Russia reported:
“U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Russia on Wednesday, state news agency TASS said on Monday, citing Russian and U.S. sources.
Trump has set a deadline of Friday for Russia to agree to end the Ukraine war or face new sanctions.”
Trump says Witkoff heads to Moscow on ‘wily’ Russia’s request
Breakthrough? pic.twitter.com/CfOI6JcEW4
— RT (@RT_com) August 4, 2025
Witkoff is by far the US official with greatest reach among the Russian leaders, a fact that inevitably leads to him being called ‘too pro-Putin’.
As a negotiator, he also knows the fast way to stop the bloodshed, and is courageous enough to really this to President Donald J. Trump.
In another Reuters report back from April:
“The U.S. special envoy leading talks with Moscow, sat down with President Donald Trump in the White House and delivered a clear message.
The fastest way to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, said Witkoff, was to support a strategy that would give Russia ownership of four eastern Ukrainian regions it attempted to annex illegally in 2022, two U.S. officials and five people familiar with the situation told Reuters.”
In plain language, the US recognizing the new Russian regions of Crimea, Kherson, Zaporozhie, Donetsk, and Luhansk, as well as the validity of the referendums held in these regions, is the number one on the Russian list of demands.
If the US won’t agree to that, there will be no progress until Russia finishes the conquest of these regions (Crimea and Luhansk are already completely under Moscow control).
Watch: Witkoff meets Putin back in April.
NOW – Putin meets Trump’s envoy Witkoff. pic.twitter.com/ldki5QIUSW
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 11, 2025
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