Witkoff And Putin Hold Talks As Trump Says Crimea 'Will Stay With Russia'

Talks between President Vladimir Putin and the White House envoy Steve Witkoff were "productive" and brought US-Russian positions on Ukraine and other issues closer, a top Kremlin aide said, as U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview that “Crimea will stay with Russia."

There was no immediate comment from Witkoff or other US officials on the outcome of the April 25 talks in Moscow, which Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said lasted for more than three hours.

The Moscow meeting came as Trump's administration makes a major push for a resolution to the 38-month Russian war on Ukraine, with a peace proposal that would also mark a major shift in US policy: recognition of Russia's claim to Ukraine’s Crimea.

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'Crimea Is Ukraine': Kyiv Residents React To Possible US Recognition Of Russian Claim

Ushakov, who is Putin's lead foreign policy adviser, described the meeting as "constructive" and "useful."

"This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to further bring their positions closer together, not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues," he told reporters.

"As for the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine," Ushakov said.

It's the fourth time that Witkoff has met with Putin since January.

It was not confirmed that Crimea was discussed at the meeting -- or any of the other proposals that Washington has put forward -- though it was widely expected to be a main topic of discussion.

With Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine well into its fourth year, Washington is trying to break the logjam of negotiations and halt what has become Europe's largest land war since World War II. Combined, more than 1 million men have been either killed or wounded in the conflict.

After top-level talks in Paris last week, the US proposals began circulating among diplomats.

Recognizing Crimea as Russia would be a significant shift in US policy.

Moscow occupied then claimed to have annexed the Ukrainian region in 2014. Aside from a small handful of countries, the annexation has been not been recognized anywhere in the world. US policy since that time -- including during the first Trump administration -- rejected the Russian claim.

The US proposal was described to RFE/RL by a European diplomat familiar with the details. A former US diplomat also confirmed the substance of the proposal.

On Crimea, the US plan calls for the "de jure" -- essentially legal -- recognition of the Russian claim to the peninsula.

In addition to being a major shift for the United States, it would be a major victory for Putin, whose popularity surged among Russians after 2014 when he ordered the stealth invasion of Crimea and later its annexation.

US recognition would also be a major blow to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and most Ukrainians, for whom the Russian claim is part of a larger campaign to undo Ukraine's sovereignty and independence.

Zelenskyy has made clear in private and public remarks that he would reject the Crimea recognition.

"There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people," Zelenskyy said on April 23.

In a post to social media on the same day, Trump, who has had a complicated relationship with Zelenskyy and a much warmer one with Putin, suggested there was flexibility for the Ukrainian government if the US proposal moves forward.

He also asserted that Ukrainians should have put up a fight when Russia sent troops into Crimea in 2014 to seize it.

In an interview with Time magazine published on April 25, Trump asserted that "Crimea will stay in Russia."

"Zelenskyy understands that," he was quoted as saying, "and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time."

Trump made similar comments to reporters as he departed the White House April 25, to travel to Italy to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.

"I think Russia and Ukraine, I think [the peace talks] are coming along; we hope. It's very fragile," he said, adding he wouldn't rule out meeting Zelenskyy while the two are in Rome for the pontiff's funeral.

Trump also referred to Russia's naval presence on the Black Sea peninsula. Sevastopol, which was site to a famous World War II battle, was the home port for the Soviet Black Sea fleet, and later was used jointly by both the Russian and Ukrainian fleets.

After Russia seized Crimea, it took complete control of Sevastopol. In recent years, however, Ukrainian forces have threatened and attacked Russian vessels there, forcing them to relocate elsewhere in the Black Sea.

"They've had their submarines there for long before any period that we're talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea," Trump as quoted as saying.

Other elements of the US proposal include blocking Ukraine's aspiration to join the NATO alliance and "de facto" recognition of the Ukrainian territories that Russia currently occupies, including parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.

It also calls for returning Russian-occupied parts of the Kharkiv region to Ukrainian control; guaranteeing unfettered Ukrainian access to the Dnieper River; and the return of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant to Ukraine control on the condition that the United States would then operate it and provide power to both Ukraine as well as Russian-occupied regions.

Ruling out NATO membership is also problematic for Ukraine, where that is a policy goal written into its constitution.

According to the European diplomat, one element of the US proposal that has not been widely circulated is the United States stepping back from insistence that Zelenskyy hold new presidential elections as soon as possible.

Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 by landslide.

But the Kremlin has asserted that his mandate is now illegitimate because martial law declared after the February 2022 election has precluded holding a new Ukrainian vote.

Amid a public clash earlier this year, Trump appeared to accept the Russian arguments, calling Zelenskyy a "dictator" and demanding he call a new vote.

Trump has since softened his rhetoric on the election question. Still, the Ukrainian government has taken quiet steps to prepare for the possibility of a vote later this year.

"Putin is being offered almost everything he wanted to take, while Ukraine is being offered practically nothing; there are no concessions," Oleksandr Khara, a Ukrainian military analyst, told Current Time.

"The fact that Russia is incapable of taking all of Ukraine or changing the government in Ukraine is absolutely obvious, and this is not going to change anytime soon," he said.

"The Russian advance in the east is coming at a high cost, and that doesn't mean there's any real prospect of a military victory over Ukraine. But there is a very different reality in Trump's mind."