The President of the United States of America Donald Trump has secretly assigned another special representative to deal with the issue of Russia's war against Ukraine, writes the American newspaper The New York Times.
This is about 67-year-old businessman Steve Witkoff, who is a longtime friend of Trump. The American billionaire real estate developer was appointed by the Trump administration as the US special envoy for the Middle East, but according to the NYT Trump secretly gave Witkoff the authority to open a channel for negotiations with the Russians.
Officially, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia is retired General Keith Kellogg. He is expected to visit Kiev soon. The US president and Witkoff have been friends since the 1980s, and Trump believes Witkoff can find a way to stop Putin's war.
During his election campaign, Trump promised that if he were elected US president for a second time, he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine "in 24 hours". Weeks after taking office, however, it is still unclear how such a scenario would play out.
Steve Witkoff has already achieved success through diplomatic channels with Moscow. Russia released Mark Fogle on Tuesday after an unannounced visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow. The American teacher spent three and a half years in prison in a Russian prison. After returning to the US, Trump welcomed Fogle to the White House. Trump called the release of American teacher Mark Fogle a fair deal and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin received very little in return.