'Widely circulating' Russian nickname for 'clownish' Trump aides revealed

Jared Kushner with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Kyiv, Ukraine September 6, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have spent the year trying to negotiate with both Iran and Russia over wars with no end in sight.

The Bulwark's Cathy Young is is calling them both clowns in her recent piece.

While things were going well at the start of the Iran negotiations, President Donald Trump's decision to start bombing ended it all, The New Yorker recalled in an extensive piece on Kushner. It has been downhill from there. But Iran isn't the only war.

Young recalled the 2024 campaign promise that he'd end the war with Russia and Ukraine "on day one." In fact, Trump said he could probably end the war before he officially took office. It has been 17 months, and Trump continues to fail.

Kushner and Witkoff don't have any experience as diplomats or negotiators, and the inexperience has shown, Young explained.

"It’s safe to say that in the entire known history of diplomacy, there has never been a more clownish team of envoys than Witkoff and Kushner," the column said. "It’s hard to find as much unanimity on anything in the Ukrainian media and among the independent Russian punditry as there is on this pair."

She cited a "widely circulating sobriquet Vityok i zyatyok," the nickname is "a pun involving a Russian nickname for 'Victor' and a diminutive for 'son-in-law.'" It's difficult to translate, but the sentiment, she said, is like calling the men "the Two Stooges."

Witkoff, Young explained, embodies a "cluelessness and obsequiousness with Putin," and it goes back long enough to be "legendary."

“When we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all,” Witkoff told a Kremlin autocrat.

The most recent iteration of "negotiations" involved both men, whom Young called "Tweedledum and Tweedledumber," accomplishing nothing with their recent trip to Moscow. They had the same “peace proposals” and used the same recycled comments about “constructive” and “candid” conversations.

"However, most Russian-speaking observers noticed one richly symbolic detail. At one point on their visit to Moscow, the envoys had dinner with Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev at a Moscow restaurant whose exterior featured the large slogan, 'EVERYTHING FOR VICTORY!' It doesn’t seem especially suggestive of a desire for peace," wrote Young.

The men also went to Ukraine. But after the trips, a new report by CNN revealed that Cosmos 2573, an elite spy satellite for Russia, was one of 14 Russian spacecraft tracking anyone flying over Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, days before a major Iranian attack there. It appears Russia has picked its side in the U.S.'s war with Iran, and it isn't Trump, or his close friends the Saudis. Instead, it seems Russia is the one feeding intelligence to Iran.

In a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, journalist and television host Dmytro Gordon asked Witkoff about the meetings with Putin. He didn't hold back.

"Don’t you think Putin has been lying to you all along?" asked Gordon. "Don’t you think that Putin, the Russians, and Russia understand only one language — the language of strength? And finally, aren’t you disgusted to sit at the same table with an international war criminal, a butcher of the Ukrainian people who is personally responsible for Ukraine’s tragedy?"

Witkoff gave a non-answer.

Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats thinks that the reason the administration is going back to the Ukraine/Russia war stems from their failure in Iran.

"Trump desperately wants to score some points somewhere before the midterms," Young said.

Finally, Young explained that CIA Director John Ratcliffe may take over negotiations since Kushner and Witkoff have failed in every respect. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin’s confidence over the war may not be based in reality. In fact, Young said, his theories about eventual victory may rest on exaggerated battlefield reports. Recent Ukrainian counterattacks near Lyman are an example.

Young closes by saying that Ukraine faces a difficult winter, but Russia’s assumed momentum and Trump’s diplomacy are far less formidable than they appear.

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