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A Financial Times report, summarized by Meduza, describes how American lawyer Richard Conn helped relay a White House message to Vladimir Putin through intermediaries in 2022. Conn and his associates later pursued unofficial peace proposals, but the channel was eventually displaced by official contacts; the proposals’ full outcome and several details of the exchanges remain unclear.
A Financial Times report has detailed how American lawyer Richard Conn helped relay a message from the Biden White House to Vladimir Putin in 2022, then took part in an unofficial effort to propose terms for ending the war in Ukraine. The report, summarized by Meduza on October 25, 2026, says the channel later faded as official U.S. and Russian negotiators took over contacts, while the peace initiative did not produce a settlement.
Conn, a corporate lawyer and investor who had worked in Russia since 1992, began pursuing the channel after a Russian businessman contacted him in early March 2022 with concerns that Putin might resort to tactical nuclear weapons. Conn proposed reaching the Kremlin directly, in part to bypass officials he suspected might restrict information reaching the Russian leader. He contacted Eric Green, then responsible for Russia policy at the U.S. National Security Council, and enlisted Russia-focused investor Bob Foresman.
According to the FT account, Conn and Foresman met Matthias Warnig in Zurich on October 4, 2022. Conn passed along a message from Green for Putin through Warnig, a longtime Putin associate. The message said the United States was not seeking regime change or Russia’s destruction and wanted peace. On October 26, Warnig conveyed a response he had recorded in a notebook. The FT published it as Putin’s response, while noting that it is not entirely clear whether the wording was Putin’s or Warnig’s interpretation.
Conn and Foresman later tried to move beyond relaying messages and facilitate a peace proposal, using connections that included businessman Michael Calvey and Ukrainian producer Alexander Rodnyansky. The proposal reportedly envisaged a Russian withdrawal from most areas Putin had recently claimed to annex, while leaving Crimea and parts of Donbas occupied before 2022 under Russian control. The available source account does not provide the full terms or a complete account of the proposal’s reception. It says official negotiators Yuri Ushakov and Eric Green had effectively ended Conn’s channel by early 2023.
Unofficial Contacts Amid Nuclear Fears
The account offers a picture of how unofficial intermediaries sought to communicate during a period of heightened concern about escalation in Ukraine. Conn’s stated motivation was fear that Putin might use a tactical nuclear weapon; the channel provided a route for a U.S. message that did not rely solely on formal diplomatic contacts. The episode is relevant to understanding how governments may use private contacts alongside official diplomacy, particularly when direct communication is limited or politically sensitive.
It also shows the limits of such efforts. Conn’s group appears to have helped carry messages and later circulated a proposed framework, but the report does not establish that the unofficial initiative changed the course of the war or brought the parties close to an agreement. The later peace proposals should not be mistaken for an agreement accepted by Russia or Ukraine. Meduza says subsequent U.S. attempts to negotiate an end to the war involved other people and have not succeeded.
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From White House Message to Peace Bid
The channel began in early March 2022, soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Conn had established professional contacts in Russia over decades, including when he opened Latham & Watkins’ Russian office in 1992. He used those connections to approach Foresman, who had worked at financial institutions with Russian ties. Foresman’s relationship with Warnig offered a route toward Putin; Warnig had business ties to Russia and led the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 projects.
Conn did not reach Putin through this route until September 2022, after official talks in Istanbul had failed and Russian forces had withdrawn from the outskirts of Kyiv. The White House message was passed in October. The following day after Warnig conveyed Putin’s reported response, Putin spoke publicly at the Valdai Discussion Club and said nuclear weapons had no political or military purpose for Russia. Conn and Foresman interpreted the public remarks as evidence that nuclear danger had eased. The FT account also notes that Jake Sullivan and Yuri Ushakov were holding confidential discussions on the issue through official channels around the same time.
Limits of the Reported Exchanges
Several aspects remain uncertain in the available account. The full record of the private exchanges is not public, and the wording attributed to Putin was delivered through Warnig rather than directly documented as a verbatim statement. The source also does not fully describe how the Russian and Ukrainian leaders responded to each element of the unofficial peace proposal or why the initiative failed.
It is also unclear precisely how the channel ended or what role it played alongside formal U.S.–Russia contacts. The report’s account indicates that official negotiators had effectively brought Conn’s channel to a close by early 2023, before the Biden administration left office, but does not establish that the private effort affected later negotiations. No settlement resulted from the initiative.
Further Details on the Peace Proposal
The immediate development is the publication of the FT’s account, rather than a new diplomatic agreement or a current negotiation announced by the U.S., Russia or Ukraine. Any fuller assessment depends on additional reporting or public records that clarify the proposal’s terms, how each side responded, and how the informal channel interacted with official diplomacy.
For now, the source account says later U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the war involved different people and have not succeeded. It does not identify a new milestone or scheduled meeting arising from Conn’s initiative. Readers should distinguish the reported 2022–early 2023 contacts from any later diplomatic activity unless officials or reliable reporting connect them directly.
Key Questions
Who is Richard Conn?
Richard Conn is an American corporate lawyer and investor who began working in Russia in 1992 and founded the Russian office of Latham & Watkins, according to the source account.
How did the backchannel reach Putin?
Conn worked with investor Bob Foresman, who had a connection to Matthias Warnig, a longtime Putin associate. Warnig reportedly carried the White House message to Putin and later relayed a response to Conn and Foresman.
What did the unofficial peace proposal call for?
The reported proposal called for Russia to withdraw from most of the regions it had recently claimed to annex, while leaving Crimea and parts of Donbas occupied before 2022 under Russian control. The available account does not give all terms or a complete record of the parties’ responses.
Did the backchannel produce a peace agreement?
No agreement is reported. The account says the channel had effectively ended by early 2023 and that the later peace initiative fell apart. Subsequent U.S. attempts involving other people have also not resulted in a settlement, according to Meduza’s summary of the FT report.
Source: rss
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