"What were you talking about for five hours?" – Trump recalls Vitkoff's first meeting with Putin

US President Donald Trump has said he was surprised by how long the meeting between Steve Witkoff, his Special Envoy to the Middle East, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin lasted.

Source: Trump speaking in the Knesset, a parliament of Israel

Details: Trump said he personally arranged the meeting, expecting it to last 15–20 minutes, as Vitkoff "had no idea about Russia, had no idea about Putin and didn't know much about politics."

However, the talks went on for more than five hours. Trump admitted that he called several times during the meeting to ask if it had ended, only to be told that Vitkoff was still talking to Putin.

Quote: "I called up an hour later – …but he was still with Putin… I called three hours later - he was still with Putin. Four hours later - still with Putin. And in five hours he came out, and I said, 'What the hell were you talking about for five hours?'"

More details: Trump said he had not expected such a lengthy conversation, as Vitkoff, in his words, had no political experience or knowledge of Russia.

He also said that Vitkoff is "just a great guy; everybody loves him".

Background:

• On 11 April, Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, where they discussed a potential pathway to resolving the war in Ukraine. Russian state media outlets say the meeting lasted four and a half hours.
• This is not the first time Witkoff has spoken about Russian-occupied territories in the context of "resolving" the Russo-Ukrainian war.
• In his widely discussed interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff said that "the biggest issue in this conflict is the so-called four regions," referring to "Donbas, Crimea, Luhansk, and two others", in his words.
• Following such statements, Reuters reported that certain actions and comments by the US president's envoy regarding the settlement of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drew criticism from both the White House and Republican Party members.

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