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Trump envoy Steve Witkoff says he has developed 'friendship' with Putin
Sky News ^ | 2/21/2025 | Mark Stone

Posted on 02/21/2025 5:00:28 AM PST by marcusmaximus

The man who has emerged as Donald Trump's geopolitical dealmaker-in-chief has said that he's developed a "friendship" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Steve Witkoff was named as Mr Trump's Middle East envoy shortly after the US election but he has since been involved in negotiations with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine.

Mr Witkoff made the comments about his relationship with Mr Putin at a Saudi-run investment forum in Miami, where he discussed his remarkable overnight trip to Moscow last week to secure the release of US citizen Marc Fogel.

"I spent a lot of time with Putin. Talking and developing a friendship and relationship with him…" Mr Witkoff said.

-snip-

In describing the success of the deal, Mr Witkoff said: "First I had the support of President Trump which is a really big deal. Secondly we have a really good relationship with the Saudis…. They assured us that this was real... and so to me it became worth the trip. And so we went. And it was a great trip. I spent a lot of time with President Putin, talking, developing a friendship, a relationship with him and that led to Mark getting on the plane…"

The role of the Saudi government is a reflection of Riyadh's remarkable and emerging geopolitical clout.

After Mr Witkoff's Moscow trip, the Riyadh talks between the US and Russia were secured.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: putin; russia; saudiarabia; stevewitkoff
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: BobL

“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”


22 posted on 02/21/2025 5:27:34 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: marcusmaximus
--- "There will be a 'minerals' deal by Monday and the the real negotiations begin."

Ah, but WHICH Monday? Might one hold you to your prediction?

23 posted on 02/21/2025 5:30:33 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: marcusmaximus

He’s President Trump’s golf buddy and, apparently, hasn’t the faintest clue about the issues at hand.


24 posted on 02/21/2025 5:34:11 AM PST by lodi90
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time

This Monday. Three year anniversary of Putin’s invasion.


25 posted on 02/21/2025 5:40:01 AM PST by marcusmaximus
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To: wildcard_redneck

Bush was another clown who said he looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul. All you clowns have no testosterone. Nobody gives a crap about your feelings. Girly men.


26 posted on 02/21/2025 5:41:30 AM PST by HYPOCRACY (Long live The Great MAGA Kangz!)
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To: marcusmaximus
---- "This Monday. Three year anniversary of Putin's invasion."

BKMK

27 posted on 02/21/2025 5:41:57 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: HYPOCRACY

Bush wanted Ukraine in NATO, France and Germany said no.


28 posted on 02/21/2025 5:43:09 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Sirius Lee

Another moron. I posted that nobody gives a crap about that guy’s friends and fags like you tell me that they do care about this guy being BFFs with Pootin. You shiuld all watch The View and have a sewing circle. Homos.


29 posted on 02/21/2025 5:43:50 AM PST by HYPOCRACY (Long live The Great MAGA Kangz!)
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To: HYPOCRACY

Mika’s dad his position because he spoke fluent russian and knew the propaganda russian history back and forth. The way to even start a russian negotiating is to figure out what the hell they want. 3 years into this war, with both parties in shambles, nobody in the west has an idea of what the russians want at the end of this. Obviously they are giving some of it back.


30 posted on 02/21/2025 5:48:39 AM PST by protoconservative (Been Conservative Before You Were Born )
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To: BobL

Biden had no contact with Putin for years. He branded him as a war criminal and stated that one of the objectives of this proxy war was regime change. It is impossible to end this debacle without talking to the leader of Russia.

The war represents a failure of democracy and leadership.


31 posted on 02/21/2025 5:48:57 AM PST by kabar
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To: marcusmaximus
developing a friendship

Be reasonable! It's better described as a "rapport."

Regards,

32 posted on 02/21/2025 5:50:07 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: HYPOCRACY

In these things you have to worry about the other side “capturing” your people, that you sent to represent your interests. Their judgment can be compromised surprisingly easily. Very often happened during the Cold War, especially for instance to OSS people in Vietnam, etc.

This isn’t a simple business.

Its one permutation of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%E2%80%93agent_problem


33 posted on 02/21/2025 5:51:35 AM PST by buwaya (Strategic imperatives )
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To: marcusmaximus

Robert Kraft was “Friends” with Putin, even gave him a Super Bowl ring, which apparently Putin still has.


34 posted on 02/21/2025 5:52:14 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

Lol!


35 posted on 02/21/2025 5:52:55 AM PST by marcusmaximus
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To: buwaya

Operation Sunrise

Operation Sunrise (sometimes called the Berne incident) was a series of World War II secret negotiations from February to May 1945 between representatives of Nazi Germany and the United States to arrange a local surrender of German forces in northern Italy.[1] Most of the meetings took place in the vicinity of Bern, Switzerland, and the lead negotiators were Waffen-SS General Karl Wolff and American OSS agent Allen Dulles. The meetings provoked Soviet suspicion that the Americans were seeking to sign a separate peace with the Germans and led to heated correspondence between Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt, an early episode of the emerging Cold War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sunrise_(World_War_II)


36 posted on 02/21/2025 5:54:48 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: HYPOCRACY

Just guessing but I’d say you have closed a lot of billion dollar business deals.


37 posted on 02/21/2025 5:55:37 AM PST by wiseprince (Me)
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To: dfwgator

The dean of America’s Russia experts, George F. Kennan, had called the expansion of NATO into Central Europe “the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.” Kennan, the architect of America’s post-World War II strategy of containment of the Soviet Union, believed, as did most other Russia experts in the United States, that expanding NATO would damage beyond repair U.S. efforts to transform Russia from enemy to partner.

The real history of the war in Ukraine. France and Germany signed on to Ukraine being in NATO.

https://thekennedybeacon.substack.com/p/the-real-history-of-the-war-in-ukraine


38 posted on 02/21/2025 5:56:47 AM PST by kabar
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To: lodi90; All

I know right?!?! I mean, everyone knows that the real way to stop Putin is to call him a murderous dictator, send hundreds of billions to Ukraine in unmarked bills and grind it out in Bahmut and Odessa.


39 posted on 02/21/2025 5:58:36 AM PST by wiseprince (Me)
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To: kabar

I believe Reagan would not have done it. After he left office, he toured the Soviet Union. To this day, Reagan is still very popular with Russians, they respected him as a leader.


40 posted on 02/21/2025 5:59:11 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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