Richard Grenell in Berlin, 8 November 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/CLEMENS BILAN
US president-elect Donald Trump is mulling the creation of a special envoy on the Russia-Ukraine war, Reuters reported on Friday, for which he is considering nominating his former intelligence chief Richard Grenell.
Citing four sources familiar with the transition, Reuters wrote that Grenell, a former US ambassador to Germany who was also briefly the acting head of US intelligence, would “play a key role in Trump’s efforts to halt the war if he is ultimately selected for the post”.
An experienced diplomat with a “deep knowledge of European affairs”, according to Reuters, Grenell has also been Trump’s special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations.
However, talk of his appointment is likely to cause alarm in Kyiv, where many of his stated positions, such as his opposition to Ukraine’s membership of NATO and his call for the creation of “autonomous zones” in Ukraine as part of a peace deal, go directly against government policy.
On the campaign trail earlier this year, Trump repeatedly pledged to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, billing himself as the only person able to do so, despite having never made any details of his peace plan public.
Most analysts believe Trump plans to push Kyiv into giving up some of its territory in exchange for a peace deal, while Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance has suggested the creation of a demilitarised zone along the current demarcation line and providing Russia with guarantees of Kyiv’s neutrality.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Putin was ready to discuss a peace deal for Ukraine with Trump, but that he was not prepared to make serious territorial concessions to achieve such an outcome.
Reacting to the report, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Vladimir Putin had repeatedly said he was “ready for contacts and negotiations”, but that simply freezing the war along the current frontlines would not be an acceptable outcome to Russia.
