Free Republic

It has been dubbed “Witi-Leaks” – an explosive insight into Donald Trump’s peace negotiations that could blow the lid off the plan to end the war in Ukraine.Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s peace envoy, was caught red-handed coaching the Russian side on how to appeal to his boss’s better nature, according to the transcripts of several phone calls that were leaked on Tuesday evening. Mr Witkoff, a former New York real estate developer turned high-level diplomat, faced criticism for his lack of experience at the coalface of international affairs. In discussions with The Telegraph, European sources have called him names, such...

The problem is Moscow doesn’t want peace in Ukraine, it wants Ukraine in pieces. Every time the White House offers an olive branch, the Kremlin torches it and commits more heinous war crimes. Washington floated a leaders’ summit in October, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wiped his shoes with it, demanding Ukraine stop resisting and the West ignore kidnapped kids and beheaded prisoners. Well, Trump pulled the plug on Budapest, signaling he might punish the Kremlin, and a panicking Vladimir Putin dispatched Kirill Dmitriev with a “peace plan” so absurd it would shame a mid-level propagandist. To make sure...

Kellogg Fired Over Leaking 28-Point Plan – Proposal Designed To Trap Putin It seems that Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, got fired over leaking news of the 28-point ‘peace plan’. Let’s follow the traces. On Tuesday the 18th November someone ‘leaked’ to Axios reporter Barak Ravid who then wrote the first story of Trump’s new plan for Ukraine. Scoop: U.S. secretly drafting new plan to end Ukraine war The plan’s 28 points fall into four general buckets, sources tell Axios: peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, security in Europe, and future U.S. relations with Russia and Ukraine. … Trump’s...

Sir Keir Starmer is set to meet Ukraine’s allies at the Johannesburg G20 summit on Saturday to seek to “strengthen” a US-drafted plan to end the war with Russia. Washington reportedly pressed Kyiv to accept the agreement which would see the invaded country make major concessions including giving up territory and cutting the size of its army. Western nations are scrambling to respond to the proposals that appeared to catch them off guard. G7 leaders plus others from the G20 will discuss the deal on the sidelines of the South African meeting shunned by Donald Trump. The 28-point plan is...

Sergei Lavrov has been sidelined by Vladimir Putin after his failure to organise a summit with Donald Trump in Budapest, according to reports. The Russian daily Kommersant, a privately owned pro-Kremlin outlet, said that Russia’s long-time foreign minister was “deliberately absent” from a key security council meeting earlier this week. The 76-year-old will also no longer represent Moscow at the upcoming G20 summit, which is scheduled for November 22 and 23 in Johannesburg. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, did not give any explanation for Mr Lavrov’s absence from the key summit, which will be attended instead by Maxim Oreshkin, Putin’s deputy...

Kirill Dmitriev — Vladmir Putin’s special envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund — is suddenly ubiquitous. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been largely quiet since his maximalist negotiating approach with Team Trump failed. Moscow, presumably largely guided by Lavrov, after winning a concession on Tomahawk missiles, opted to continue Putin’s hardline demands for ending the war in Ukraine ahead of the proposed Trump-Putin summit in Budapest. NATO would have to admit that it was the root cause of the war. Kyiv would have to cede all of the Donbas, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine would...

Kirill Dmitriev — Vladmir Putin’s special envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund — is suddenly ubiquitous. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been largely quiet since his maximalist negotiating approach with Team Trump failed. Moscow, presumably largely guided by Lavrov, after winning a concession on Tomahawk missiles, opted to continue Putin’s hardline demands for ending the war in Ukraine ahead of the proposed Trump-Putin summit in Budapest. NATO would have to admit that it was the root cause of the war. Kyiv would have to cede all of the Donbas, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine would...

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec ERIK PRINCE: “This is not our fight. Not our party. If the Israelis want to take out this Iranian site they can use their Air Force or rent planes from any country nearby. They are trying to coerce us in. That’s what this is about, and I’m resolute about it” 10:39 AM · Jun 21, 202

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent rival teams to Washington for talks with the Trump administration as ceasefire negotiations for the war in Ukraine are underway, according to an independent investigative Russian news outlet. On Thursday, Kirill Dmitriev, a businessman and Putin's investment envoy, announced that he is in Washington this week to hold talks with U.S. officials. The official, who runs Russia's sovereign wealth fund, is meeting Trump ally Steve Witkoff at Putin's request, he said. Putin also gave the go-ahead for another rival team to engage in talks with Washington, news site Agentstvo reported on Thursday. The two teams...

George Aref Nader, who was a key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, was arrested on child pornography charges Monday in New York, federal prosecutors announced Monday. Nader was arrested upon arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport for "transporting visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct." He previously pleaded guilty to the same charge in 1991, the Justice Department said. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 40 years.

A Russian official is expected to visit Washington, D.C., this week for talks with the Trump administration, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing a U.S. official and two sources familiar with the plans. The official, Kirill Dmitriev, will meet with Steve Witkoff, a Trump administration official, for talks about strengthening relations between the two countries as they seek to end the war in Ukraine, according to CNN.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said his country won't accept peacekeeping forces from Nato countries in Ukraine under any peace deal, following high-level talks with the US in Saudi Arabia. "Any appearance by armed forces under some other flag does not change anything. It is of course completely unacceptable," he said. Russia and the US said they had agreed to appoint teams to start negotiating the end of the war. "Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey, but an important one", US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said following the meeting. Ukraine was not invited...

The health ministry of Russia approved a flu drug to be used in the fight against the deadly novel coronavirus after the preliminary testing showed promising results. The drug "Avifavir" -- a generic version of the Japanese flu drug "Avigan" -- has been granted a temporary registration certificate as Russia's first COVID-19 drug, according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)’s official statement. RDIF has been taking several effective steps in fighting the pandemic, which included a project to diagnose and treat COVID-19-related pneumonia using CT scans and artificial intelligence technology. Avifavir has been used to treat severe forms of...

A major witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was arrested Monday on child-pornography charges, after flying into the U.S. for the first time since his cooperation with Mr. Mueller’s team. George Nader, a dual U.S. and Lebanese citizen, was charged in a criminal complaint more than a year ago, in April 2018, after he had spent hours with Mr. Mueller’s investigators detailing his contacts with Trump allies and efforts to set up meetings between Trump campaign associates and a Russian businessman close to President Vladimir Putin. Nobody connected to the Trump campaign was charged as a result of Mr....

Buried in special counsel Robert Mueller's 400-plus page report is the question of whether then-president-elect Donald Trump attended a 2016 championship chess tournament — an event that came under scrutiny as Mueller probed possible collusion between Trump's orbit and the Russian government. Although Trump said he did not attend the event, he told Mueller in written answers that he became "aware of documents indicating" that then-president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov — a sanctioned Russian power player — invited the Trump Organization in March 2016 to host the tournament at Trump Tower. "I do not remember having...

Erik Prince, the founder of private security company Blackwater, has found himself embroiled in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. During the campaign, Prince reportedly met at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., operative George Nader, and social media specialist Joel Zamel to discuss a potential pro-Trump social media influence operation. He also met with Russian sovereign wealth fund manager Kirill Dmitriev during the transition period—a meeting reportedly planned to set up a backchannel between the Trump administration and Russia. Those revelations raise questions about his relationship to the Trump administration—questions...