Trump’s special envoy involved in talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine says ‘I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy’
White House envoy Steve Witkeov Vladimir Putin praised glowing phrases as well as trustworthy and said that the Russian leader told him that he prayed for his American “friend” Donald Trump when he was shot.
Witkoff met with Putin for several hours last week in Moscow and the media told us that the talks-which included discussions on strengthening a road towards ending the Russian war in Ukraine-were constructive and “based on solutions.”
In an interview with the right -wing podcast, Taker Karlson, the envoy said he had considered Putin a “bad man”, and that the Russian was a “great” leader seeking to end Moscow’s deadly struggle with Kiev.
“I loved him. I thought he was straight with me,” Witkeov said in the interview on Friday.
“I do not consider Putin a bad young man. This is a complex situation, that war, and all the components that led to this.”
He also described an “personal” element in the discussion that Putin recalled his reaction to the assassination attempt on Trump in July 2024, where the Republican held a campaign in Bater, Pennsylvania.
“Putin told me a story … about how to shoot the president, he went to his local church and met his priest and prayed for the president.”
“Not because … he could become president of the United States, but because he had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend.”
Wittakov added that Putin had assigned a “beautiful picture of President Trump from a prominent Russian artist,” and asked the envoy to take her to Trump.
“It was a generous moment.”
Madih Witkoff has long been walking to a president by the United States, as a tyrannical opponent highlighting the dramatic turn in Washington’s approach to dealing with the Kremlin since Trump took office for a second presidential term.
Witkeov also said Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine faces difficult options in the future and that the president must realize that the time has come to him “to do a deal” with Moscow.
Wittakov said that Zelinski “is in a very difficult situation, but he opposes a nuclear nation.” “So he must know that he will get the ground. Now he is his best time to get a deal.”
Witkoff comments were mainly delivered on friendly land. Carlson, the former controversial Fox News star, who was widely considered a rare but soft interview with Putin last year.
Carlson was also a leading product of bromailin’s novels in the United States.
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
2025-03-22 23:06:00
