The Kremlin said that the leak of conversations with Witkoff could have occurred through “wiretapping” on WhatsApp

After Bloomberg published transcripts of secret conversations between US Presidentʼs special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putinʼs aide Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin denied that the leak could have come from the negotiators.

Ushakov said this in a comment to the Russian propaganda publication Kommersant.

Ushakov stressed that official contacts are “usually conducted through secure channels”, where leaks are rare. Instead, some communication may have taken place on WhatsApp, which, according to Ushakov, “could potentially be eavesdropped on by outsiders”.

"Yes, there are closed-circuit communications, where there are almost no leaks. But there are conversations on WhatsApp — and obviously someone can listen to them," he said.

• Bloomberg previously published transcripts of phone conversations between the US President Donald Trumpʼs special representative Steve Witkoff and Putinʼs foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov on October 14, and between Ushakov and Putinʼs special representative Kirill Dmitriev on October 29. The agency claims that it made the transcript when it reviewed the recordings of the conversations.
• The dialogues show that Witkoff advised Ushakov on how to present a "peace plan" for Ukraine to Russia, and after that, Ushakov and Dmitriev discussed transferring their proposals to the Americans, which they were then to present as their plan.

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