A senior Russian official has defended Jared Kushner after suggestions of potentially murky negotiations in negotiations to end Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the U.S. negotiators tasked with ending the war, are believed to have ties to business interests seeking to acquire Russian oil assets as part of a possible peace deal in Ukraine.
After Kushner refuted claims that he was involved in a similarly beneficial deal in Israel over X, Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev responded to the post, defending Kushner.
“Jared is a peacemaker. The peacemakers are attacked for restoring peace because the warmongers generously finance these attacks. But the peacemakers will win and the warmongers will lose. 🕊️,” Dmitriev wrote.
The New York Times reported Saturday that Kushner and Witkoff were negotiating a deal that would allow U.S.-backed interests to acquire Russian assets, including large swathes of oil fields, as part of a sweeping energy deal.
Among those who stood to benefit from the deal were a Trump campaign donor and a Qatar-based conglomerate controlled by Moutaz Al-Khayyat and his brother Ramez Al-Khayyat, both of whom attended Trump’s second inauguration in 2025.
The brothers have since teamed up with Kushner and Ivanka Trump to help finance a multibillion-dollar luxury resort in southern Albania.
Other parties to the potential deal have ties to both the Trump family and Witkoff through the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company, World Liberty, which is run in part by Witkoff’s son.
On Thursday, CNN published a report that Kushner’s private equity firm had a stake in an Israeli company supporting companies involved in Israeli military campaigns.
The network reported that Kushner managed to avoid any control over business interests that might conflict with his government responsibilities because his position as peace envoy was voluntary.
Kushner denied the claims about
Putin’s envoy responded to Kushner on Saturday as the Times article about the Russia deal circulated.
A spokeswoman for Witkoff told the Times that he, too, does not receive a government salary. She said Witkoff “has no conflict of interest or financial interest in this matter.”
The White House, Kushner and Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This is an alarming and very concerning set of entanglements,” Hui Chen, a former Justice Department ethics adviser, said of the Russian oil deal. “One has to wonder how the Trump administration is evaluating the various bidders involved here.
“Will the personal interests at stake wrongly influence the outcome? she asked in the Times.
Gn usa
