New York Times reports that the ongoing Trump administration’s attempts to broker peace in Ukraine involve a large deal of oil that could benefit Middle East business figures connected to the main American negotiators.
Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have been facilitating peace talks between the combatants for months. The two envoys traveled to both Moscow and Kyiv last September to discuss the terms of a ceasefire.
A Russian government source claimed to the newspaper that Putin, on September 5, put forward a deal involving a large oil company, Lukoil, which is one of Russia’s largest energy producers. According to the proposal, Lukoil would acquire a significant share of oil assets, including several oil refineries, in exchange for billions of dollars.
One of the business groups involved in the deal is connected to Kushner and Witkoff, while the other is a multinational corporation with previous business dealings with Kushner. In addition, the deal involves the Trump-supporting billionaire Todd Boehly.
While it is still unclear whether Kushner and Witkoff will directly profit from the transaction, the business world has raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest.
A presidential administration member defended the deal, telling the Times that Kushner and Witkoff are restructuring the economy of the conflict, including gasoline stations in New Jersey, to make the deal more attractive to investors and generate profits for the US.
Trump has often expressed a desire to improve relations with Russia after the conflict in Ukraine is over.
The war has lasted for over four years and involved a terrible winter this year. Russian forces launched a massive drone attack across Ukraine, mainly targeting energy facilities. In response, Ukraine’s army has targeted several oil depots and refineries in Russia with long-range missiles in the last weeks.
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