A plan for Ukraine, courtesy of Trump’s associates
heightened scrutiny – with investigations by American intelligence agencies, the FBI and Congress – some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related ef f or t s behind the scenes.
Trump has confounded Democrats and Republicans alike with his repeated praise for the Russian president, Vladimir V Putin, and his desire to forge an American-Russian alliance. While there is nothing illegal about such unofficial efforts, a proposal that seems to tip toward Russian interests may set off alarms.
The amateur diplomats say their goal is simply to help settle a gruelling, three-year conflict that has cost 10,000 lives.
But the proposal contains more than just a peace plan. Andrii V Artemenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, claims to have evidence – “names of companies, wire transfers” – showing corruption by the Ukrainian president, Petro O Poroshenko, that could help oust him. And Artemenko said he had received encouragement for his plans from top aides to Putin.
Cohen and Sater said they had not spoken to Trump about the proposal, and have no experience in foreign policy. Cohen is one of several Trump associates under scrutiny in an FBI counterintelligence examination of links with Russia, according to law enforcement officials; he has denied any illicit connections.
Sater, 50, a Russian-American, pleaded guilty to a role in a stock manipulation scheme decades ago that involved the Mafia. Artemenko spent two and a half years in jail in Kiev in the early 2000s on embezzlement charges, later dropped.
While it is unclear if the White House will take the proposal seriously, the diplomatic freelancing has infuriated Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Valeriy Chaly, said Artemenko “is not entitled to present any alternative peace plans on behalf of Ukraine to any foreign government, including the US administration”.
At a security conference in Munich on Friday, Poroshenko warned the West against “appeasement” of Russia, and some American experts say offering Russia any alternative to a two-year-old international agreement on Ukraine would be a mistake. The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about the conflict in Ukraine.
But given Trump’s praise for Putin, John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, said he feared the new president might be too eager to mend relations with Russia at Ukraine’s expense – potentially with a plan like Artemenko’s.