Trump argues: there was no waiting for Putin

US President Donald Trump argues that his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff “did not wait nine hours” for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a Thursday visit to Moscow. On Friday, Sky News wrote that Putin told Witkoff to wait many hours to show “who has the authorities”.

“As usual, fake news again! Why can't they be honest once? Yesterday evening I read that Russian President Vladimir Putin told my honorable ambassador and a special envoy, Steve Witkoff over nine hours, while there was no waiting in fact on Sunday,” he wrote on Sunday Donald Trump.

He added that there were also other meetings with representatives Russia. “Of course, they took some time, but they were very productive. From that moment everything went quickly and efficiently, and all the signs in the sky and earth seem to be, hopefully, very good!” Trump said.

Sky News reports

On Friday, the portal of the British Sky News television wrote that the special envoy of Donald Trump Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow on Thursday, had to wait eight hours (not nine, as Trump said – ed.) Vladimir Putin.

The Russian propaganda agency RIA Nowosti on the day of the arrival of Witkoff reported that the plane with the envoy of Trump on board landed at the Moscow Airport Wnikowo at 12:34 (10.24 in Poland), and flew away at 01.54 (23.54 in Poland). At 17.37 of the Moscow time, the TASS agency quoted the adviser Putin Jurija Damnu, who said that “when the president would signal that he could start talks with Witkoff, then he would be called to the Kremlin.”

Sky News noted that Trump's envoy was in the Russian capital just over 12 hours and “it seems that he had to wait most of the time.”

Meeting with Lukashenko

The author of the publication Ivor Bennett pointed out that on the day of the arrival of Witkoff, a visit to the Kremlin was made by the Belarusian leader Alaxandr Lukashenko.

Lukashenko's visit was to be organized hurriedly and announced only the day before. Ivor Bennett pointed out that “it is not known for sure whether the date of Lukashenko's visit was intentional, but he did not seem to be a coincidence.” In his opinion, telling Trump's envoy, Putin demonstrated that he had power.

According to the Russian radio station, Majak, Putin's working meetings in the Kremlin on Thursday ended after one thirty o'clock at night, after which he went to his residence in Nowa-Ogariów near Moscow. Witkoff was to visit the embassy before leaving Moscow USAwhere he stopped for about an hour – informed the Russian daily “Izwestija”.

After talks in Saudi Arabia

Witkoff was sent to Moscow to provide Vladimir Putin with a 30-day arms suspension. His visit to Russia is scheduled after the talks of the US delegation and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.

In response to the proposal of the truce, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia supports the American proposal to end the conflict with peaceful methods, but emphasized that any suspension of weapons should lead to a lasting peace, and thus must eliminate the basic reasons for the conflict. He also suggested that the proposal to suspend their weapons is beneficial for Ukrainians who can use this period for mobilization and reliance.