The invitation surfaced on Monday as Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine drags on, with a peace agreement still out of reach. Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the conflict, once claiming he could stop the war within 24 hours of taking office
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join United States President Donald Trump’s proposed “board of peace,” an initiative intended to help resolve global conflicts and oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza.
The invitation surfaced on Monday as Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine drags on, with a peace agreement still out of reach.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the conflict, once claiming he could stop the war within 24 hours of taking office.
However, fighting on the ground continues, and although negotiations are ongoing, progress has slowed.
According to the Kremlin, the White House has reached out to leaders and influential figures around the world to serve on the “board of peace,” which would be chaired by Trump.
“President Putin has also received an invitation to join this board of peace,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.
Peskov said Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the proposal with Washington, without indicating whether Putin was inclined to accept the invitation.
Reports also suggest that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, has been invited to join the group.
For years, Moscow sought to maintain balanced relations with key players in the Middle East, including Israel and the Palestinians.
However, since the start of Israel’s more than two-year war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin has increasingly distanced himself from Israel while strengthening ties with its regional rivals, including Iran.
Russia has also worked to deepen relations with Gulf Arab states as Western isolation has intensified.
Putin has previously praised Trump’s efforts to resolve long-running conflicts.
“He is really doing a lot to address these complex crises, which have lasted for years, even decades,” Putin said in October.
Referring to the Middle East, he added: “If we succeed in achieving everything Donald has aimed for, it will be a historic event.”
Both the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza have strained Russia’s traditionally cordial relations with Israel, which is home to a large Russian-speaking population.
The Kremlin has repeatedly criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza and called for restraint.
“The Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe in the full sense of the word,” Putin was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying during a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in May. “Russia, as a friend of the Palestinian people, is trying to provide regular assistance.”
The proposed “board of peace” is expected to oversee the implementation of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. It would operate as a three-tier governing structure involving representatives from the United States, Europe and Arab countries.
However, the initiative has drawn criticism from analysts, who argue that it places Trump and other pro-Israel or controversial figures such as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the top of the structure, while relegating Palestinians to a lower tier focused on municipal responsibilities.
Critics warn that this could sideline Palestinian political representation in favour of a commercialised, neo-colonial style of governance.
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