Bloomberg reported the information.In a five-minute phone call on October 14, Witkoff told Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin's chief foreign policy adviser, that Russia should work with the U.S. on a peace framework similar to the 20-point plan that helped broker the Gaza agreement."We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I'm thinking maybe we do the same thing with you," Witkoff told Ushakov, according to a recording reviewed by the publication.The conversation offers unprecedented insight into the Trump administration's negotiation tactics with Moscow and appears to reveal the origins of the controversial 28-point peace proposal that emerged earlier this month. The U.S. has since pressured Ukraine to accept the plan as the foundation for ending the war.During the call, Witkoff coached Ushakov on how Putin should frame the issue when speaking with Trump. He suggested scheduling a Trump-Putin conversation before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's White House visit later that week and recommended Putin reference the Gaza deal as an opening."Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we're open to those sorts of things," Witkoff proposed.The Russian aide appeared receptive. Putin "will congratulate" Trump and will say "Mr Trump is a real peace man," Ushakov responded.Two days later, Putin and Trump held a two-and-a-half-hour call that the president described as "very productive." Putin congratulated Trump on the Gaza deal, just as Witkoff had suggested.When asked about Witkoff's approach, Trump defended it as standard dealmaking. "He's got to sell this to Ukraine. He's going to sell Ukraine to Russia. That's what a dealmaker does," Trump told reporters Tuesday.Following the Trump-Putin call, Witkoff met with Kirill Dmitriev, another senior Kremlin adviser, in Miami for three days. In a subsequent October 29 phone conversation between Dmitriev and Ushakov, the two Russian officials debated how aggressively to push Moscow's demands in any peace proposal, according to another recording reviewed by Bloomberg.The resulting 28-point plan has placed Ukraine under intense pressure. Under terms initially proposed by the U.S., Ukraine would withdraw troops from parts of eastern Donbas that Russia has failed to capture militarily, creating a demilitarized buffer zone internationally recognized as Russian territory. Moscow would also gain de facto recognition of its claims to Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk.U.S. officials had threatened to cut critical intelligence support to Ukraine's military if Zelenskyy refused to accept the proposal, though Kyiv has since won some concessions following talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.Putin said this month he believed the U.S. plan could serve as the basis for a peace settlement. On Tuesday, Trump announced he was directing Witkoff to meet with Putin to finalize a deal, saying "there are only a few remaining points of disagreement."The recordings raise questions about the extent to which the Trump administration collaborated with the Kremlin in crafting a peace proposal that Ukraine and its European allies view as heavily favoring Russian interests.On Tuesday, November 25, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the Russian and Ukrainian sides are very close to an agreement to end the war.