The White House has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to help oversee the rebuilding process in Gaza as part of President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” the Kremlin said on Monday.
A spokesperson for Putin did not say whether he planned to accept the invitation.
“Indeed, President Putin also received an offer through diplomatic channels to join this Peace Council. We are currently studying all the details of this proposal,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in a statement to Russian state-run media. “We hope to contact the American side to clarify all the details,” he added.
So far, requests to join the board have been extended to the leaders of more than a dozen countries — though only Hungary, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam have accepted Trump’s offer.
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Countries that want a “permanent” seat on the board are expected to pay an entry fee of $1 billion, Bloomberg first reported over the weekend. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he wants his country to join the panel, but does not plan on paying the steep fee for permanent membership.
Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Paraguay, Argentina and Albania have all confirmed that they received an invitation but made no indication of whether they planned to accept.
A separate executive committee of the Trump-run Board of Peace is also set to include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Ajay Banga, the head of the World Bank.
However, the inclusion of two others has angered Israeli officials: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali al-Thawadi.
“Bringing Qatar and Turkey into the Gaza Strip is a reward to Hamas for the October 7th massacre and a danger to Israel’s security,” former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said over the weekend. “This government of chaos has abdicated Israel’s sovereignty.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the announcement of the board members “was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy.”
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