"Make money, don't fight." Trump and Witkoff believe Putin might make peace for the sake of profit. Or they dream of making money themselves.

According to the authors of the article, to understand the history of the administration's negotiations with Russia, they spoke with dozens of officials, diplomats, former and current intelligence officers from the United States, Russia, and Europe, as well as American lobbyists and investors close to the administration. The picture that emerges for journalists is a story of how business leaders worked around traditional diplomatic channels, trying to stop the war by offering Russia potentially attractive business schemes.

"Borders Matter Less Than Business"

For the Kremlin, the Miami negotiations were the culmination of a strategy developed even before Trump's inauguration: to bypass the traditional US national security apparatus and convince the administration to view Russia not as a military threat, but as a country of boundless economic opportunities.

Russia tempted Washington with the prospect of returning its $2 trillion economy to the global market, with American business set to reap the dividends before its European competitors.

This offer perfectly aligned with the philosophy of Trump and his confidants — special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

According to the authors, they fully share Trump's approach to geopolitics: borders matter less than business. Witkoff explained his vision in a comment to the Wall Street Journal: if Russia, Ukraine, and the United States become business partners and everyone prospers, this will be a natural defense against future conflicts.

According to the WSJ, Putin's chief negotiator Kirill Dmitriev proposed using $300 billion in Russian assets frozen in the West for joint investments and the reconstruction of Ukraine under US auspices. He also proposed joint development of minerals in the Arctic and even combining efforts in space — up to a joint mission to Mars with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The publication draws attention to the fact that for many in Trump's White House, blurring the lines between business and geopolitics is not a flaw, but a feature. Key advisors to the president see an opportunity for American investors to strike lucrative deals in a new post-war Russia and become commercial guarantors of peace.

In conversations with Witkoff and Kushner, Russia clearly hints that it will favor American business over competitors from European countries, whose leaders "criticize too much."

As one of these people said, "It's in the style of Trump's 'art of the deal' — to say, 'Look, I'm solving this problem, and there are huge economic benefits for America.'"

"Guest from Moscow"

The implementation of the plan began almost immediately after Steve Witkoff took office as the president's special representative. His office approached the US Treasury Department to request permission for Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, who was under sanctions, to visit Washington. According to sources, Trump personally approved this risk in order to end the war.

On April 2, Dmitriev arrived at the White House with a list of multi-billion dollar business projects. Although Secretary of State Marco Rubio was skeptical of all this, Dmitriev himself left Washington confident that "investment trust can be transformed into policy."

Павялічыць

In response, Witkoff began to visit Russia regularly. In late April, he met with Putin in St. Petersburg, where he took notes, using the services of a Kremlin translator.

At the same time, according to the WSJ, he ignored coordination with the Europeans: he missed a meeting in London and refused to use a special communication line, citing a busy travel schedule. Meanwhile, Dmitriev and Witkoff spoke regularly by phone, discussing increasingly ambitious proposals.

Dividing the Promised Pie

While negotiations were underway, major American businesses took starting positions in anticipation of a peace treaty. Exxon Mobil held a secret meeting with the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, in Doha, discussing a return to the Sakhalin project. Russian oligarchs Timchenko and the Rotenberg brothers offered Americans gas and mineral deposits.

People from Trump's inner circle were also looking for benefits: Trump Jr.'s friend Gentry Beach was negotiating to buy a stake in Novatek if sanctions were lifted, and donor Stephen Lynch hired lobbyists for $600,000 to obtain a license to purchase Nord Stream 2. It even reached space: in July, the head of Roscosmos visited the NASA center and Boeing and SpaceX factories.

But there is no evidence that Witkoff, the White House, or Kushner were informed of these efforts or coordinated them. A person familiar with Witkoff's thinking said that the envoy is confident that any settlement with Russia will benefit America as a whole, not just a handful of investors.

Events accelerated in August. On August 6, Witkoff flew to Moscow again. During a walk through Zaryadye Park and a subsequent meeting in the Kremlin, Putin made an unusual gesture: he passed through Witkoff a Soviet medal, the Order of Lenin, for the son of the deputy director of the CIA, who died in Ukraine fighting on the side of Russian troops.

Павялічыць

The next day, Witkoff held a video conference with European leaders, announcing Putin's proposal: Russia was allegedly ready to abandon claims to the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions if Ukraine surrendered the rest of the Donetsk region. The Europeans were confused and did not even immediately understand whether it was a real withdrawal of troops or simply a freezing of the front line.

Separate Diplomacy, Bypassing the CIA

Of particular concern, according to the authors, was that Witkoff usually acted separately from professional diplomats and intelligence officers. The WSJ writes that the CIA was not fully informed about the prisoner exchange negotiations. Moreover, the official special envoy for Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, was effectively removed from the real negotiations, which later led to his resignation announcement.

The information situation was so critical that officials from the sanctions control department at the US Treasury Department sometimes learned details of Witkoff's meetings with Moscow from their British colleagues, rather than from their own superiors.

The leak of information in Europe caused a real shock. A few days after Putin and Trump's meeting in Alaska, one of the European intelligence services distributed a report among national security officials who were shocked by its content. Inside were details of the commercial and economic plans that the Trump administration was discussing with Russia, including the joint extraction of rare earth metals in the Arctic.

Failure of Agreements

According to the publication, the attempt to consolidate the agreements at the summit on August 15 with the participation of Trump, Rubio, Witkoff, and Putin failed almost instantly. Instead of discussing deals, Putin began to lecture on the "1000-year history of the unity of peoples." As a result, lunch and working sessions were canceled. Witkoff left the meeting in a daze, although he tried to maintain a positive attitude.

Павялічыць

The final chord of this story, which demonstrates the priority of economics over war, was Vladimir Zelensky's visit to Washington in October. The Ukrainian president asked for long-range Tomahawk missiles to strike Russian refineries so that negotiations with Moscow could be conducted from a position of strength.

However, according to the WSJ, Trump spoke with Putin the day before and decided to deny Kiev weapons. Instead of a military solution, Witkoff offered the Ukrainians a commercial alternative: ask Trump for a 10-year exemption from duties. In his humble opinion, this would give a powerful boost to the Ukrainian economy.

Explaining his position to journalists in Miami, Witkoff noted:

"I'm in the business of settling deals. That's why I'm here. We keep knocking on doors and offering ideas."

European allies were left with the conclusion formulated by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: "This is not about peace. This is about business."

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