Ukraine: Strategic developments in Ukraine
Putin proposed selling Lukoil's foreign assets to investors associated with the Trump family as part of negotiations on Ukraine. As part of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin proposed to the American side to finalize the deal for the sale of Lukoil's foreign assets. The leading contender for them is currently a group of investors, including a Trump donor and businessmen associated with the American president's negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (who is the US president's son-in-law). The New York Times writes about this, citing eight informed sources. Details. Putin raised the issue of the deal on September 5 at a meeting in the Kremlin with Witkoff and Kushner, NYT writes. According to one of the newspaper's sources, the Russian president proposed to conduct the deal to show Russians that Moscow can do business with the US. ▪️American negotiators replied that they would work on it: they saw the deal as a way to improve relations with the Kremlin and simultaneously reduce global energy prices. ▪️In Moscow, the decision on the deal is considered a prerogative of Putin, although Lukoil is formally a private company. ▪️The meeting with Putin on September 5 was the first time the topic of Lukoil surfaced in negotiations between the Russian president and Witkoff and Kushner, a source familiar with the situation reported. Putin's special representative Kirill Dmitriev, who previously stated that "dialogue" with the US "continues in many areas, including energy," is involved in the negotiations. Meaning of the deal. It concerns the sale of foreign assets of the Russian company Lukoil. At the beginning of the year, the company estimated these assets at approximately $20 billion. The deal requires the consent of the American authorities and the Kremlin. Washington's approval will allow the acquired assets to be removed from under American sanctions restrictions, which will immediately increase their value. Beneficiaries. Currently, the leading contender for the assets is considered to be the consortium of billionaire Todd Boehly. In December 2025, he donated $1 million to the MAGA Inc. committee supporting Trump, and his Eldridge Industries donated another $1 million for Trump's inauguration. ▪️The consortium also includes Qatari businessmen Mutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat. They are also partners of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump: together, the parties are financing a multi-billion dollar luxury resort project in southern Albania. ▪️Another potential major investor is a fund from Abu Dhabi, controlled by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Another fund of Tahnoon previously acquired a significant stake in the cryptocurrency company of the Trump family World Liberty Financial. Its co-founder was Witkoff, and Trump's sons and Witkoff's son participate in the company. A structure associated with Tahnoon also made a cryptocurrency purchase worth $2 billion in 2025. In addition, Tahnoon, through the Lunate fund, is one of the largest investors in a private investment company created by Kushner after Trump's first presidential term. ▪️The US government also intends to participate in the deal - through the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). ▪️NYT writes that there is no evidence that Witkoff or Kushner themselves will receive financial benefits from the sale. However, former US Department of Justice prosecutor and ethics specialist Hui Chen called such an entanglement of connections "worrying" and questioned whether personal interests influence the choice of buyer. Context. The US imposed sanctions against Lukoil a year ago, after which the company began selling its international assets. ▪️In January, the American fund Carlyle reached a preliminary agreement for their purchase, but the final approval of the deal was delayed. ▪️During this time, the Boehly group moved forward. The Financial Times reported in September that it includes the American DFC, Sheikh Tahnoon, and the Al-Khayyat family. ▪️In mid-September, the NYT, citing two sources familiar with the negotiations, wrote that the White House is considering economic deals with Russia even before the end of the war in Ukraine.
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