Witkoff and Kushner offered Russia unfreezing of assets in exchange for ceasefire

Economic incentives instead of security

In late September, representatives of US President Donald Trump's administration, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, presented Russia with a package of three significant economic incentives. These proposals involved unfreezing funds and easing sanctions pressure in exchange for a partial cessation of hostilities, which was to cover either the energy sector or maritime routes. The New York Times reported this, citing sources familiar with the details of the negotiation process.

What Washington specifically proposed

The first item of the plan was the unblocking of billions of dollars in Russian state assets frozen by Western countries. According to the publication's data, these funds could be provided as an initial incentive even before the official signing of a ceasefire. Previously, the US side had already discussed the possibility of returning up to $100 billion to Moscow.

The second initiative involved resuming the plan to sell a stake in the Russian oil and gas company Lukoil to a consortium of investors from the Middle East. It concerned a deal of multi-billion scale, with some potential buyers having business ties with American negotiators.

The third incentive measure could have been permission for Belarus to export potash fertilisers.

Kyiv's reaction and counter-conditions

Ukrainian officials, according to NYT information, were shocked by the scale of the concessions being discussed for Russia. At the same time, Kyiv did not reject the idea entirely but formulated its own demands. Ukraine proposed unfreezing Russian assets only on the condition of simultaneously allocating similar financial resources to Kyiv. An alternative option was providing additional military aid to Ukraine in case Russia violated the ceasefire regime.

Diesel deal without guarantees

The publication notes that the subsequent agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the supply of diesel fuel was concluded without any commitments from Russia regarding the conduct of the war against Ukraine. The NYT believes that this deal became another example of weakening Kyiv's position by providing Moscow with an economic breather, as the Kremlin did not offer any concessions regarding the war in return.

Scaling back diplomatic efforts

Hours after the announcement of the agreement, Russian officials stated that there would be no immediate resumption of peace negotiations. Diplomatic efforts began to scale back shortly after the arrival of Ukrainian negotiators in Miami. Before the start of the meetings, Donald Trump spoke at length by phone with Vladimir Putin. According to the publication, the negotiations between the Ukrainian and American delegations in Miami ended without achieving a breakthrough.