Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ The Wall Street Journal reports that the main focus of the US-Russia peace talks is to get commercial advantage for American companies, and personal benefits for individuals linked to the Trump Administration. European officials are said to be shocked by the plans. ⬇️

2/ According to the WSJ, talks between Trump's golfing friend Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev have bypassed the US national security and diplomatic apparatuses to focus on economic benefits for well-connected American companies.

3/ The paper reports that "a cast of businessmen close to the Trump administration have been looking to position themselves as new economic links between the U.S. and Russia." Friends of the Trump family and Trump donors are working on lucrative deals with Russian companies.

4/ Anticipating the removal of US sanctions, Gentry Beach, a Trump donor and a college friend of Donald Trump Jr., has been in talks to acquire 9.9% of an Arctic liquid national gas project with the Russian company Novatek. Other businessmen have been involved in similar talks.

5/ They include executives from Exxon Mobil, mining companies, and investment funds, which have been offered stakes in Russian energy production, mines, and pipelines. Rare earth production has been a particular focus of interest, as well as gas concessions in the Sea of Okhotsk.

6/ The rest of the US diplomatic and national security apparatus, including the State Department and CIA, is said to have been kept in the dark. US Treasury officials reportedly only learned about the details of Witkoff's meetings from their British counterparts.

7/ Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, is reported to have been "all but frozen out of serious talks" and is leaving his post in January 2026.

8/ According to the WSJ, "In the days after [the Alaska peace talks in August 2025], a European intelligence agency distributed a hard-copy report in a manila envelope to some of the continent’s most senior national security officials, who were shocked by the contents."

9/ These efforts have not yet been successful. The Alaska summit fell apart after Putin angered Trump by lecturing him on Russia's historic "right" to control Ukraine, and ended without agreement.

10/ In October, Witkoff and Putin appear between them to have persuaded Trump to reject President Zelensky's plea to acquire Tomahawk cruise missiles to attack Russian refineries. Witkoff suggested that the Ukrainians should ask for a 10-year tariff exemption instead. /end

Source:
wsj.com/world/russia/r…