Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Now let's go to Damos, where Bloomberg's Ari Hordarn is
Speaker 2: standing by Henri.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Vonnie.
Speaker 2: I'm now joined by, of course, the Special Envoy for
Speaker 2: peace negotiations the Middle East. Is portfolios has expanded as
Speaker 2: well to what's going.
Speaker 1: On in Ukraine, Steve Wikoff. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us here.
Speaker 3: Oh it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: So this Davos.
Speaker 2: I thought i'd start with you talking about your portfolio, Russia,
Speaker 2: the Middle East. You successfully negotiated peace in Gaza, but
Speaker 2: we first have to talk about this elephant in the
Speaker 2: room when it comes to Greenland.
Speaker 1: What's the thinking behind this?
Speaker 4: Well, I think the President feels, as many other presidents
Speaker 4: before him have indicated, that it's of strategic significance, importance.
Speaker 4: It's just strategically critical and we're in the best position
Speaker 4: to defend it against adversaries and enemies.
Speaker 3: And I agree with that position.
Speaker 2: It's just the president's talking about if he doesn't get Greenland,
Speaker 2: it's going to be tariffs on the Europeans.
Speaker 1: At the same time, they're trying to bring the Europeans on.
Speaker 2: Board to get an agreement on their soil, on their
Speaker 2: continent in Ukraine.
Speaker 1: Does it make your job more challenging?
Speaker 4: No, he makes my job easier. Actually, i'm his emissary
Speaker 4: and he sets the table pretty good for people like me.
Speaker 1: Do you think there'll be an off ramp on Greenland?
Speaker 1: What are the conversations like right now?
Speaker 4: I think the President is an incredible negotiator, so he'll
Speaker 4: get to the right place.
Speaker 2: And those negotiations could potentially take place here in Davos.
Speaker 3: I think there'll be some discussions here.
Speaker 2: Do you think a lot of leaders are going to
Speaker 2: show up to the Board of Peace event because Manu
Speaker 2: Malcrana is left Vonderlines leaving, They're all going to have
Speaker 2: an emergency summit on Greenland.
Speaker 4: You know, we've got twenty or maybe twenty five leaders
Speaker 4: who have already said yes, this is not such an
Speaker 4: easy place to get to. They've already said yes. I
Speaker 4: think you're going to see an overwhelming response. We have
Speaker 4: many people who we weren't sure if they were going
Speaker 4: to We even want to get invitation. Now the calling
Speaker 4: up for invitation, so everyone wants to be a part
Speaker 4: of this. What we're going to do here, what the
Speaker 4: President is going to do here will be it'll be
Speaker 4: game changing for the world.
Speaker 2: How have you pushed the ball forward when it comes
Speaker 2: to Ukraine talks here? I know Kerl Dmitriev was here
Speaker 2: on the ground. Yes, she was tweeting about how the
Speaker 2: talks went.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: He's a tweeter, can you yeah, he is, He follows me.
Speaker 2: Can you give us some insight into if the talks
Speaker 2: are going well?
Speaker 1: Where are we at this moment? What is the state
Speaker 1: of play?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 4: The Ukrainians have said that when ninety percent done, and
Speaker 4: I agree with them. In fact, I think that we've
Speaker 4: made even more significant improvement over this past weekend. We
Speaker 4: were meeting with Kirol Boutonoff, who is of course the
Speaker 4: new vice president, ran military intelligence for them. They're head
Speaker 4: of the Parliament, David and with Ruster Mumarov, and we
Speaker 4: made even moose progress during those meetings in Miami this
Speaker 4: past week. I'll be with them tonight and I think
Speaker 4: that and then I'm going to Moscow with Jared. All
Speaker 4: of these discussions are when you're going to Moscow, Jared
Speaker 4: and I will leave Thursday night and arrive in Moscow
Speaker 4: late at night and then go over to the UAE
Speaker 4: afterwards for working groups.
Speaker 2: So do you think we are close to the final
Speaker 2: ten percent of this deal?
Speaker 1: Do you think this will get done the.
Speaker 4: Next few weeks final ten percent? I don't know about
Speaker 4: the next few weeks, but I know we've made more
Speaker 4: progress in the last six or seven weeks since Geneva
Speaker 4: then we've made according to the Ukrainians now I'm going
Speaker 4: to use there what they say. According to the Ukrainians,
Speaker 4: more progress than in the last three or four years.
Speaker 2: We've seen Russia continue their attack, especially in critical infrastructure,
Speaker 2: most recently energy infrastructure, leaving thousands, maybe millions of Ukrainians
Speaker 2: without power, without heat. Do you think Puchin is truly
Speaker 2: here for a peace deal?
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, they're in a war, and so
Speaker 4: they're shooting at each other, and we don't condone that.
Speaker 3: I mean, we think it's unfortunate.
Speaker 4: That's why the President and me at the President with
Speaker 4: Jared at the residence direction, while working so hard for
Speaker 4: the piece, we hope that will occur. We think people,
Speaker 4: you're right, are suffering on both sides. It's cold there
Speaker 4: and not to have heat is terrible, and we've got
Speaker 4: to correct.
Speaker 3: All of these things.
Speaker 4: But a peace deal corrects it, and the President is
Speaker 4: focused on that piece deal. It's a very very important
Speaker 4: important part of his agenda from a foreign policy standpoint.
Speaker 2: But do you think Putin is there or is he
Speaker 2: just dragging negotiations on for the sake of it.
Speaker 4: I think that they've asked for the meeting. The Russians
Speaker 4: have invited us to come, and that's a significant statement
Speaker 4: from them, And Kirol was here yesterday and working on
Speaker 4: this with us. So I think everybody is embedded in
Speaker 4: the process and wants to see a peace deal happen.
Speaker 2: If we do not get to a peace deal, what
Speaker 2: does the tool kit look like in terms of potentially
Speaker 2: more punishments on Russia? I know I've spoken to a
Speaker 2: lot of CEOs which said it was a pretty big deal.
Speaker 2: The President went after Luke Oil and Roysnaft. What other
Speaker 2: measures you think we could see?
Speaker 3: Well, if a peace steel happens.
Speaker 4: If it doesn't happen, Oh, if it doesn't happen, okay,
Speaker 4: Well we've sanctioned them quite a bit. And I'm not
Speaker 4: sure what the President's game plan would be if it
Speaker 4: doesn't happen. I think if it doesn't happen, a lot
Speaker 4: depends on who he thinks is responsible for it not happening.
Speaker 3: Right now, we have people working together.
Speaker 4: We're trying to build consensus, We're trying to build unanimity
Speaker 4: of opinion. We've sent an invitation out to President Putin
Speaker 4: to join the board a piece, the same thing with
Speaker 4: President Zelenski. So let's hope. I want to choose to
Speaker 4: be an optimist here. I think we're going to get
Speaker 4: a positive response from both. I believe that if.
Speaker 2: There is a peace agreement, what are you hearing from
Speaker 2: Corporate America and even European CEOs about rebuilding Ukraine and
Speaker 2: even going back and doing business in Russia. All of
Speaker 2: them had a presence there and then they fled at
Speaker 2: the start of the war.
Speaker 4: We have told Ukraine that we think that their GDP,
Speaker 4: their economy can triple over the next year. That's an
Speaker 4: assessment by the way, by Blackrock, who is working on
Speaker 4: this and Larry Finks here. Now they have done an
Speaker 4: exceptional job, by the way, with our staff, but we
Speaker 4: have told them that disguise the limit for.
Speaker 3: Their economy, and we believe that.
Speaker 4: I think that could be the secret sauce here, not
Speaker 4: just a peace deal, but aspirationally a better world and
Speaker 4: a better life for the Ukrainian people who have sacrificed
Speaker 4: so much, and for the Russian people as well.
Speaker 2: I want to also ask you about your other big focus,
Speaker 2: which of course is the Middle East, and what is
Speaker 2: going on with Iran. Have you had backchannel discussions with
Speaker 2: the Iranians, either directly or through the Omani's.
Speaker 4: Well, the President has indicated that there have been some discussions,
Speaker 4: and that's what resulted in the Iranian statement that the
Speaker 4: killings will stop.
Speaker 1: Do you believe them the killings will stop?
Speaker 4: Well, there's been a lot of killings and there's terror
Speaker 4: and that's terribly unfortunate and horrific. That's a good word
Speaker 4: because it is horrific. These people were defenseless. They were
Speaker 4: just coming out into the stream saying, we want to change.
Speaker 4: You shouldn't be killed for expressing a viewpoint that you
Speaker 4: want changes so Iran.
Speaker 3: Iran needs to change its ways.
Speaker 4: They need to do that. And if they do, if
Speaker 4: they indicate that they're willing to do that, I think
Speaker 4: we can diplomatically settle this.
Speaker 2: Have you gotten this sense from this outreach that that
Speaker 2: is the path they want to solve this in a
Speaker 2: diplomatic way.
Speaker 4: We don't have that sense yet we would have. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think a right the foreign minister was supposed to
Speaker 4: be here, couldn't come, or was even maybe disinvited.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure. I was actually looking.
Speaker 1: You'd be appropriate for him to come here given the level.
Speaker 3: Of well, I was looking forward to killings Well.
Speaker 4: I was looking forward to meeting him because I think
Speaker 4: it's we need to build that communication channel. We have
Speaker 4: to because the alternative to that is not a good alternative.
Speaker 1: Do you have plans?
Speaker 2: I know you're going to Moscow, then you said you're
Speaker 2: going to go to the United Arab Emirates. Yes, Do
Speaker 2: you have plants to potentially meet the Iranian Foreign minister
Speaker 2: in the next few weeks or months.
Speaker 4: We don't have a plan, but I think we're moving
Speaker 4: in a direction where we could have that conversation, if
Speaker 4: they're willing to have that conversation.
Speaker 1: I just want to end on what a year it's been.
Speaker 2: You're literally at the epicenter of massive seismic geopolitical shifts.
Speaker 2: You are very successful when it comes to Gaza, You're
Speaker 2: now dealing with a very hot topic when it comes
Speaker 2: to Iran. These negotiations continue to grind on on Ukraine.
Speaker 1: What has been so challenging.
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, we have a great administration. We
Speaker 4: have an amazing team. We have the ultimate boss, President Trump,
Speaker 4: and he sets the table for all of us. But
Speaker 4: Marco Rubio has been amazing too. I get to work
Speaker 4: with the State Department with an incredible array of talented people,
Speaker 4: and my job is now made even more easier because
Speaker 4: Jared Is and I are doing so much together. So
Speaker 4: the President is focused on solutions. He's focused on cleaning
Speaker 4: up all these conflicts. He independently has settled eight warrants
Speaker 4: and now we're on a path to settle all the
Speaker 4: rest of them. And I, you know, I'm proud to
Speaker 4: work for the administration. I tell the President all the time,
Speaker 4: this is the greatest These are the great moments of
Speaker 4: my life.
Speaker 2: You don't strike me as you're preparing for an invasion
Speaker 2: of Greenland, though, So it sounds like potentially that could
Speaker 2: be soft here at Davos.
Speaker 1: Could you tell us what the President's going to say?
Speaker 4: Well, I don't know what he's going to say, and
Speaker 4: I wouldn't presume to speak for him, but I think
Speaker 4: what he's going to tell I think his feeling is
Speaker 4: that this is a strategic asset, and we have to
Speaker 4: make sure it's defended. And Denmok cannot defend it in
Speaker 4: an adequate and inadequate way as compared to how the
Speaker 4: United States can defend it.
Speaker 2: And just for logistics, as far as you're concerned, the
Speaker 2: President looks to me, maybe on time now, catching up
Speaker 2: some speed.
Speaker 3: I think so okay, well think so you.
Speaker 1: Look forward to your speech. I mean, thank you for
Speaker 1: your time. Thank you know you're incredibly busy. Tons of
Speaker 1: negotiations on the sideline here at the World Economic Forum.
Speaker 1: Of course, that was the President's Special ENVOYE. Seve Wikoff,