British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting warned against appeasement after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian”; The Independent reported Streeting’s comments, while AP and CBS News reported Witkoff’s remark.
The Independent said Streeting made the remarks on BBC Newsnight on Oct. 22. He said there was “a very clear line between appeasement and a peace process.” Asked whether he meant the United States was appeasing Russia, Streeting replied: “I’m saying don’t feed the crocodile.”
The Kremlin’s record says Putin and Witkoff met Oct. 21 at Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg. Putin told Witkoff that Stephen Hubbard, an American held in Russia, had been released and was at Pulkovo airport, the record says.
Witkoff told Putin, “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that,” AP and CBS News reported. Trump told White House reporters he had asked Putin to free Hubbard, AP reported.
Streeting’s crocodile metaphor had a wartime counterpart in a Jan. 20, 1940, radio address by Winston Churchill. Churchill used the image to warn that trying to delay danger could leave a country hoping only to be harmed last.
Kremlin official Yuri Ushakov said Russia was ready “in principle” to resume trilateral talks with the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10. He said the discussions would focus on a postwar security system for Russia and Ukraine. AP reported that no date had been confirmed.
