At the heart of President Trump’s controversial plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war is not peace: it’s profit.
Trump emissaries Steve Wittkoff and Jared Kushner are negotiating with Russian officials to ensure that American businesses — and Trump cronies — are in a position to make a killing once the war is over, a detailed report from the Wall Street Journal published Friday.
“Russia has enormous resources, vast expanses of land,” Wittkoff, who last week was accused of training Russians how to properly blackmail the president, told The Wall Street Journal.
Wittkoff talks about a future in the paper where Russia, the US and Ukraine are all trading partners.
“If we do all this, and everybody prospers and they’re all a part of it, and there’s hardship for everybody, that’s naturally going to be a bulwark against future conflicts there. Because everybody’s thriving,” Wittkoff said.
For Witkoff, Kushner and the Russians, the goal is reportedly to revive Russia’s $2 trillion economy through Russian-American joint ventures. At the center of the talks is the Russian central bank’s accumulated $300 billion in assets that Russia wants to give to American businesses for investment projects and the U.S.-led reconstruction of Ukraine.
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, is working on lucrative Russian-American ventures such as exploiting Arctic mineral resources and teaming up with SpaceX on a joint mission to Mars.
Money from such projects would flow to Trump friends and megadonors. Gentry Beach, founder of investment firm America First Global, a college friend of Donald Trump Jr. and a Donald Trump campaign donor, is in talks to acquire a stake in a Russian Arctic gas project if sanctions are lifted, according to The Journal.
Trump megadonor Stephen P. Lynch is working with Trump Jr. to buy the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would deliver vital gas from Russia to Europe.
By coordinating with the United States on profitable trade ventures, Russia believes it can become an economic power in Europe, driving a wedge between the United States and its traditional European allies.
Europe blocked President Trump’s 28-point peace plan – which Wittkoff drafted based on the Russian plan – arguing that it was too generous to Russia. The agreement had Ukraine concede its territory and curtail its military capabilities, effectively neutralizing the nation’s sovereignty. The plan was also unpopular in the US, as it received significant pushback from the GOP.
Europe responded with a peace plan of its own that modified Trump’s. The new plan makes territorial concessions a point of post-ceasefire negotiations and increases the size of Ukraine’s military so the country can still effectively defend itself. Negotiations are ongoing.
