Andrew Roth, The Guardian; ‘You are a humanitarian also, sir’: the US feeds Putin with lies as Ukraine’s children take cover and die
"They say the first casualty of war is truth. For the Trump administration, the road to peace with Russia now encompasses some extraordinary lies.
Steve Witkoff delivered one as he sat down with Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday, aiming to close the deal on Russia’s land grab in Ukraine with the White House’s strategy of maximum pressure on Kyiv and saccharine flattery of the Kremlin.
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” said Witkoff, a real-estate mogul who, thanks to being Trump’s friend, is now the US’s senior envoy and diplomat to end the largest European conflict since the second world war. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you.”
In Putin’s 26 years in power, it is a rare moment when he has been granted that specific honour. Skim through Russia’s past wartime exploits – from the bombing campaigns in Chechnya and Georgia and Syria, to the thousands of Russian citizens jailed for dissent, to the violent deaths of prominent opposition journalists and politicians in barely disguised assassinations and poisonings – and it will be difficult to identify Putin’s credentials as a humanitarian."
