Why Does the Kremlin Say It Has No Details on Trump’s Deal?
Kremlin Says It Has No Details of Trump’s “Big Deal” on Ukraine and Europe
Peskov said the Kremlin has no details of Trump’s ‘big deal’ on Ukraine and Europe, and that Dmitriev has not yet briefed Putin. What each side has said.
In this article
Context
On Friday 6 November, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the agreement Donald Trump had announced the evening before. His answer was three words in Russian: “Никаких подробностей нет”, or “There are no details.” The president had said a day earlier that the deal would reach beyond Ukraine. The Russian government says it has not been told what is in it.
Key takeaways
Trump said in the Oval Office on 5 November that “it’s going to be a big agreement” and that it “might involve all of Europe”. He also said he could not say what he had discussed with Kirill Dmitriev. Peskov said on 6 November that the Kremlin has no details, and that Dmitriev had not yet returned from the United States or reported to Vladimir Putin. Peskov also said Russia has received no European ideas on security guarantees. Delegations from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv are due in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November.
Analysis
Why does the Kremlin say it knows nothing about Trump’s deal?
On Thursday 5 November Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy, attended an event at the White House hosted by Melania Trump to mark the local ceasefire in Oleshky, which we covered in our report on the Trump and Dmitriev meeting. Later in the Oval Office Trump told reporters he had met him. “I can’t tell you what I discussed,” he said. Then: “There’s going to be an agreement, it’s going to be a big agreement and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine.”
The next day Peskov was asked what Moscow made of that. Asked about the “большое соглашение”, the big agreement, he said: “Никаких подробностей нет.” On Dmitriev’s report he was equally flat: “Нет, он пока еще не вернулся, поэтому мы пока еще не располагаем информацией”, which means “No, he has not yet returned, so we do not yet have any information.” These are Peskov’s words as carried in Russian news agency reports of his daily briefing, and the translation is Silent Dossier’s own.
Within a day, then, the American president had described an agreement and the Russian presidential spokesman had said Putin’s envoy had not yet reported on the meeting.
Analysis
What did Peskov say about Europe?
Trump’s phrase “might involve all of Europe” was met with a Kremlin line about Europe. Peskov said that no ideas from Europeans on security guarantees for all sides of the conflict had reached Russia: “к нам они не поступали, они нам неизвестны”, meaning “they have not come to us, they are unknown to us.” He added that a conversation with the Europeans would be needed, in the words reported from his briefing: “потребуется разговор с европейцами.”
He also described Europe as undecided about who should speak to Moscow, and as unready for dialogue. On 5 November the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni had written to European Council President António Costa that Europe was “proceeding in disarray” and asked EU leaders to settle who speaks for the bloc, as our earlier article set out. Peskov made the same point from the other side of the table.
How does this fit with what Washington has said?
Marco Rubio spoke more cautiously than Trump. At the close of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta on 31 October, the Secretary of State said: “I don’t know if negotiated peace is achievable in Ukraine. That’s what we’re trying to find out.” He added: “I don’t think anyone here is claiming that we’re on the verge of a negotiated settlement.” Asked about American contacts with Moscow, he said: “How can you have a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine if you don’t have the ability to talk to both Russia and Ukraine?”
Five days later the president said a big agreement was coming.
Peskov spoke about the Melania Trump event in warmer terms: “Встречу, конечно же, мы оцениваем позитивно”, or “We, of course, assess the meeting positively.” Asked how Dmitriev’s political and humanitarian contacts fit together, he said they “прекрасно дополняют”, “complement each other perfectly”, and called it “a very good practice”. Moscow is praising the channel while declining to describe what moved through it.
Analysis
What is the Abu Dhabi meeting?
Washington, Moscow and Kyiv are due to send delegations to Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November. Our earlier report on the Abu Dhabi talks shows that Volodymyr Zelensky, Jared Kushner, Dmitriev and Peskov have each described the agenda in different words: written, “ironclad” guarantees from Kyiv, a security “architecture” from Kushner, and the security of both sides from Peskov. A big agreement that covers Europe would need a seat for Europe at that table, and Meloni’s letter says the EU has not yet decided who would take it.
What to watch
Whether Dmitriev reports to Putin, and whether the Kremlin then describes any agreement in its own words. Whether Washington publishes terms or a timeline. Trump gave neither on 5 November. Whether the EU names one voice before 10 November. Whether the Abu Dhabi agenda changes after the president’s remarks.
The Kremlin’s “no details” is the first official Russian answer to Trump’s announcement. Until Moscow or Washington puts terms on paper, the “big agreement” exists only as the president’s description of it, and Donald Trump and Dmitry Peskov are describing two different amounts of knowledge.
Follow Silent Dossier
New articles and corrections are posted on our official accounts.
Silent Dossier on Google
Add Silent Dossier as a preferred source on Google (opens in a new tab)Follow us in Google DiscoverRelated
