All the ways Trump’s man in Moscow debased the US in front of Putin

Sat at a big round table in a gilded chair in St Petersburg on Wednesday, face to face with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the United States’ envoy Steve Witkoff had the eyes of the world on him. Would this be the beginning of the end of the war in Ukraine? Would he push for peace? But almost from the moment the former real estate lawyer and developer fumbled with his microphone and apologised for being “not good with technology”, it was clear this was not a clash of superpowers. Shorts One reporter described it instead as “all Putin’s Christmases come at once”. Expert observer Matthew Sussex warned not to view it as a game of geopolitical poker. Witkoff was “playing tiddlywinks”, he said. A promise to resume trilateral talks would likely amount to nothing. “It’s pretty clear the main game is Trump clan access to Russian business deals.” ‘You are a humanitarian, sir’ “You talk so much about my president, president Trump being a humanitarian, you are a humanitarian also, sir,” Witkoff said to Putin, early in the public portion of the talks before they began in earnest behind closed doors. “And I salute that. I commend you, and I thank you again.” He was referring to Russia’s release earlier that day of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US school teacher imprisoned in Russia after he was captured in Ukraine. This is not the first time Witkoff has been effusive in his praise of Putin. When he and Jared Kushner met Putin at the Kremlin in September he told the Russian leader that just before the meeting “were all talking about when we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all”. Calling Putin a “humanitarian” was such a reach that even Donald Trump tried to qualify it later, saying: “Well, I guess you could say [it] for that particular purpose, for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life, out, but you know, I wouldn’t say anything one way or the other, you know?” Other Republicans found it harder to swallow. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a humanitarian" following the release of U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard on Wednesday. During a meeting in St. Petersburg, Witkoff thanked Putin for freeing the American — whom the U.S. government had declared… pic.twitter.com/L7hXKupsKJ— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 21, 2026 “WTF, Steve?” wrote Republican Senator Thom Tillis. “Look up the definition of ‘humanitarian.’ What an embarrassing and outrageous thing to say. You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a ‘humanitarian.'” Former US ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who served during the Bush and Obama administrations, called it “cringeworthy”. One wag on Twitter said calling Vladimir Putin a humanitarian was “like calling Jeffrey Dahmer a five-star chef”. ‘Read that at your leisure’ Witkoff seemed to play down, in real time, the proposals for a Ukraine peace plan he had brought from a meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky the previous day in Oslo. “We brought some papers for you to look at,” he mentioned. “It’s really some ideas about the different elements of some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.” He added, optimistically, “and you’ll read that at your leisure later on”. Putin did not bother to respond. An aide later said in the three-hour meeting that followed, Witkoff did brief Putin on the substance of the proposals, “although there was little in them that could help resolve the Ukraine crisis”. Russian President Vladimir Putin was not impressed by proposals for a peace deal (Photo by Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS) “Our President informed Steve Witkoff that, in principle, Russia is ready to resume the trilateral talks around the 10th of November to discuss the main issue,” the aide said. “This concerns the establishment of a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict.” Matthew Sussex, a national security expert from Deakin University, said it was “ridiculous” for Russia to demand security guarantees, given it was the aggressor against Ukraine. “[There was] no negotiation on, no movement on getting the Donbas back [for Ukraine], no energy ceasefire, no general ceasefire, and [just] back to the three-way talks. “This is very typical. The way that Moscow does diplomacy is basically just to reiterate the same thing over and over and over again. The talks will restart, but they’ll just go on interminably. “[Russia] have not shifted one iota [and the US] didn’t apply any pressure whatsoever.” Anton Gerashchenko, a former Ukrainian deputy interior minister, noted that Russia has agreed to negotiations numerous times before, only to change its position or cancel the meetings. A Russian missile hit private houses in Kyiv late on Wednesday, after talks in St Petersburg (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP via Getty Images) “It suits the Kremlin to have Washington believe that a deal with Putin is just around the corner,” he said. “One more meeting, one more concession, one more phone call. And while the Americans wait for a peace deal, Russia keeps waging war. Russia gets concessions. Ukraine gets pressure.” Meanwhile, he says, “Russia keeps bringing death and destruction to Ukrainian cities.” Russian missiles struck Kyiv again on Wednesday night. ‘Deeply grateful’ The aide said “a significant part of the conversation” between Putin and Witkoff in private was “devoted to the implementation of agreements on the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the US and global markets”. The deal, agreed earlier in October, will see the first tanker of fuel leave Russia within days, Putin said. Trump also last week issued an order suspending Congress’ sanctions against Russia which would have imposed a 500% tariff on Russian imports and secondary tariffs on major purchasers of Russian energy. But Witkoff thanked Putin for the deal, rather than the other way round. “Your decision to remove export controls on diesel oil from Russia and to sell, not just to the United States, but also to the world at large, in the midst of this economic shock, I think that was a really important act on your part, sir,” he said. “I know the president is deeply grateful for it.” “It’s an example of us all working together and I want to say thank you to you for that.” In response, Putin noted Russia could “supply huge amounts of fertilisers” to US farmers. “We will talk of these things today.” On Wednesday Trump gave mixed messages over whether he had cancelled the sanctions to win the release of Stephen Hubbard. Trump didn’t want to upset Russia and put a hostage return at risk by deploying new sanctions (Photo by REUTERS/Umit Bektas) “We didn’t give Russia anything in exchange,” he said. “We don’t give, once you give, you’ll end up quadrupling the problem.” Immediately after, however, he said that if the sanctions had been implemented “you would not have Mr Hubbard coming back right now”. “I was in the midst of getting Stephen out of Russia. And if we did what these foolish people wanted me to do, he wouldn’t be coming out right now, he’d be in there for another 20 years. “So the last thing I was going to do is break up that.” Sussex said if the oil or sanctions deal were part of the hostage diplomacy “it was a capitulation of the most extraordinary kind”. “It sends the message to everybody that all you have to do is kidnap an American and you’ll get endless bounty from the Trump administration, so it’s a massive own goal.” ‘You’ve been outstanding’ While the war grinds on, Russia appears to be making progress in plans for lucrative business deals with the US potentially worth trillions. The ‘Dimitriev package’ proposed in September to Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (who also joined Wednesday’s private talks by phone) by Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev was described by the Kremlin as “major Russia-US projects that could be mutually beneficial to both sides”. Witkoff did not hide his excitement on Wednesday, with Dmitriev again in the room. Jared Kushner (C), Steve Witkoff (R) and Kirill Dmitriev (L) met in Moscow in September (Photo by Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS) “The business and economic cooperation between our governments is an example of what the possibilities are in the future,” he said. “I think it’s been really, really good dealing with Kiril. “You’ve been outstanding, Kiril. You really have. “I think, you know, our Treasury Department is working with you now independently. And I think that’s leading to a sense of what the possibilities are between our two nations.” Potential deals reportedly include Arctic oil and gas, lithium and other rare earth metals under Siberia, and purchases of American aircraft. In February, Dmitriev estimated “the portfolio of potential U.S.-Russia projects is over $14 trillion.” An article in the Economist had put the figure at $12 trillion. The same article reported that “individuals close to the Trump family have been in talks to acquire stakes in Russian energy assets”, and that “individuals close to the White House … have talked with Kremlin envoys about board seats at Russian companies”. Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen told the Kyiv Independent there was a “lot of chatter” that Russia may have floated private business deals to people close to Trump. Gerashchenko said Moscow was offering the US “not peace in exchange for business, but rather business in exchange for war”. “The main objective is to buy American consent to the normalisation of the war Russia is waging against Ukraine,” he said. “For the Kremlin, the main benefit would come when American companies invest billions of their own dollars in these projects. After that, imposing new sanctions on Russia would also mean losses for American businesses.” Former US ambassador to Ukraine Steve Pifer told the BBC that Russia “do not seem to be negotiating in a serious way” towards peace. “The American position of the last 10 days has been very dispiriting,” he said.