# Yuri Ushakov Vladimir Putin's foreign-policy aide, and the Kremlin official who sits at Putin's side in nearly every conversation with the Trump administration. A career diplomat born in Moscow in 1947, Ushakov was Russia's ambassador in Washington from 1999 to 2008, and has worked directly for Putin since 2008. Historian Sergey Radchenko of Johns Hopkins, quoted by The Moscow Times, says Ushakov "plays a much greater role in the formulation of Russia's foreign policy than, say, Lavrov," meaning Foreign Minister [[Sergey Lavrov]]. ## Career A 1970 graduate of Moscow's state institute for international relations (MGIMO), Ushakov served several tours in the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen. From 1992 to 1996 he directed the Russian foreign ministry's department for all-European cooperation, which handled the EU, NATO and the OSCE; he was then Russia's envoy to the OSCE in Vienna and, in 1998, a deputy foreign minister. President [[Boris Yeltsin]] appointed him ambassador to the United States in December 1998; he took up the post in January 1999 and served until 2008. When Putin became prime minister in May 2008, Ushakov became deputy head of the government staff, handling foreign policy. In May 2012, after Putin returned to the presidency, he was appointed aide to the president, the post he still holds. ## The Trump channel - **Anchorage.** Ushakov was one of the three Russians in the room at the [[Anchorage Summit 2025]], with Putin and Lavrov, facing Trump, [[Marco Rubio]] and [[Steve Witkoff]]. - **Readouts.** He is usually the Kremlin's voice after Trump–Putin calls; see [[Trump-Putin Calls Timeline]]. - **The leaked calls.** On November 25, 2025 Bloomberg published a transcript of an October 14 call in which Witkoff advised Ushakov on how Putin should approach Trump, including praising Trump's Gaza deal and calling before Zelensky's White House visit. A second recording, of an October 29 call, had Ushakov and [[Kirill Dmitriev]] discussing what became the [[28-Point Peace Plan]]; "I don't think they'll take exactly our version, but at least it'll be as close to it as possible," Dmitriev told him. Dmitriev called the report "fake"; Ushakov did not dispute the recordings but called the leak unacceptable and aimed at hindering U.S.–Russian talks. Trump defended Witkoff's approach as "a standard thing," adding: "He's got to sell Ukraine to Russia." ## Sanctions Canada listed Ushakov in March 2014, after the annexation of Crimea, and Australia and Ukraine have also sanctioned him. As of October 2026 he did not appear on the U.S. Treasury's sanctions lists, the European Union's Russia asset-freeze list or the UK Sanctions List, all of which include Putin and Lavrov. ## Why he matters Ushakov is the continuity in Russia's dealings with Washington: the ambassador of the Clinton and Bush years, and the aide who now handles the Trump envoys directly. The leaked calls showed that channel working in reverse, with the U.S. envoy coaching the Kremlin on how to pitch Trump. ## See Also - [[Vladimir Putin]] · [[Sergey Lavrov]] · [[Kirill Dmitriev]] · [[Steve Witkoff]] - [[Trump-Putin Calls Timeline]] · [[Russia Sanctions Relief Ledger]]