Witkoff’s statements about "referendums" are shameful. Trump should remove him from office - Merezhko
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff should be removed from office. His statements about "referendums" in the occupied territories are "shameful and shocking".
According to Censor.NET, citing Radio Liberty, this was stated by Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, MP of the "Servant of the People" party.
"Let's call a spade a spade, these are just shameful, shocking statements. I don't understand what we are talking about - ignorance, naivety, unprofessionalism? After all, we are talking about a representative of the president, who should be professionally versed in this issue and know some basic things, that is, obvious things. And he doesn't know this. He's just repeating Russian propaganda. And my question is, who is he? Is he Trump's messenger, or is he Putin's messenger? I don't have an answer to this question. How can I explain it? I think that the worst thing in this situation, the most dangerous thing, is that Mr Witkoff says in this interview that ‘I represent Trump's interests, I express his point of view’. And this is very dangerous," the MP stressed.
Merezhko believes that Trump should disavow these statements as contrary to US policy. And Witkoff himself should be recalled from the post of special envoy.
"President Trump should disavow these statements because they are contrary to US policy in the first place. The United States has always had a clear, unequivocal policy on this issue of non-recognition of Russia's attempted annexation and occupation of Ukraine. And here comes a person who claims to be the president's envoy and makes such shocking statements. Of course, we cannot dictate to our American friends who should represent them, but this person should be removed from this delegation, he should not be a representative of the president. Because he is either completely unprofessional or simply repeats Putin's narratives," the MP added.
Merezhko hopes that Trump does not share the views expressed by Special Envoy Witkoff. He says there are people in the current administration who do not support such rhetoric.
Witkoff's statements about "referendums"
Earlier, Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that the biggest issue in this war is "the so-called four regions: Donbas, Crimea, Luhansk and two more. These territories are Russian-speaking, and referendums were held there, where the majority of people voted in favour of being under Russian rule."
Witkoff later clarified his statement about the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and the "referendums" held there.
