Expert: Putin saw US envoy Witkoff as a ‘weak and desperate man’
Translated from Lithuanian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Security expert Jimmy Rushton said Russian President Vladimir Putin viewed US envoy Steve Witkoff as weak and desperate during negotiations.
- Rushton said Kyiv has little confidence that the latest talks will produce a breakthrough and considers US negotiators too sympathetic to Moscow.
- He also argued that the US envoys lack sufficient knowledge of Russia and the region.
US envoy Steve Witkoff appeared to Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a very desperate and weak man,” according to security expert Jimmy Rushton. Rushton said Witkoff did not act like a representative of the world’s most powerful and richest country, but rather like someone desperately seeking concessions from Russia.
a very desperate and weak man
“It’s really strange that they approached Putin in this way, and the Russians simply see it as a demonstration of weakness,” Rushton told Sky News. His comments came as US and Ukrainian representatives met in Kyiv to discuss ending the war and the prospects for possible negotiations.
Rushton said Kyiv had little faith that the latest talks would produce a breakthrough. He said US envoys were not viewed there as honest and impartial negotiators, but as overly favourable toward Moscow and naive about Russia.
It’s really strange that they approached Putin in this way, and the Russians simply see it as a demonstration of weakness
He identified what he described as another problem: Witkoff and other US negotiators do not understand Russia and the region sufficiently. “They really don’t understand the Russians, and none of them is a Russia expert. They don’t speak Russian. They never really understood this part of the world, and Moscow has outplayed them repeatedly,” he said.
They really don’t understand the Russians, and none of them is a Russia expert. They don’t speak Russian. They never really understood this part of the world, and Moscow has outplayed them repeatedly
About this summary
Originally published by Delfi in Lithuanian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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