TL;DR
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A Financial Times report details how American lawyer Richard Conn used intermediaries to carry a Biden administration message to Vladimir Putin in 2022, then helped pursue an unofficial peace proposal. The channel ended in early 2023, and the reported exchanges do not establish that the proposals were accepted or led to an agreement.
A Financial Times report has detailed how American lawyer Richard Conn helped carry a Biden administration message to Vladimir Putin in 2022 and later joined an unofficial effort to propose terms for ending the war in Ukraine. The channel, which operated through business intermediaries rather than formal diplomatic talks, had effectively ended by early 2023, before the Biden administration left office.
Conn, a corporate lawyer and investor who had worked in Russia since 1992, became concerned after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons. According to the report, an unnamed Russian businessman raised that fear with Conn in March 2022. Conn then approached Eric Green, who oversaw Russia policy at the U.S. National Security Council, with an idea for a direct channel to Putin that would bypass some official Russian channels.
Conn worked with American investor Bob Foresman to reach Matthias Warnig, a longtime Putin associate who had led the Nord Stream projects. The report says Warnig had access to the Russian president through their longstanding relationship. In October 2022, Conn passed Warnig a message from the White House. The message, as quoted by the Financial Times, said: “The US is not pursuing regime change. We’re not trying to destroy Russia. There is no existential threat. We’re trying to support international order and the UN. We want peace.”
Warnig later relayed a response that he had written in a notebook. The report quoted it as Putin’s response, while noting uncertainty over whether the wording represented Putin’s exact words or Warnig’s account. Conn and Foresman subsequently worked with intermediaries on a proposed settlement involving Russian withdrawals from much of the territory Moscow had annexed and recognition of Russian control over Crimea. The report says official negotiators Yuri Ushakov and Eric Green had effectively brought Conn’s channel to an end by early 2023.
An Informal Channel Alongside Diplomacy
The account offers detail on an unofficial effort to communicate with the Kremlin during a period of acute concern about nuclear escalation. Its significance lies partly in the contrast between backchannel contact and formal diplomacy: Conn’s initiative relied on personal relationships and intermediaries, while U.S. and Russian officials were also conducting confidential discussions through official channels.
The proposed settlement also shows the limits of private mediation in a war involving decisions about territory, security and sovereignty. The report describes proposals being carried to both sides, but it does not show that the governments adopted them or that the channel produced a negotiating framework. The episode is a record of attempted communication, not evidence of a peace agreement.
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From Nuclear Fears to Peace Proposals
Conn had established a professional presence in Russia decades earlier, founding the Moscow office of Latham & Watkins in 1992. The backchannel idea arose shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Conn believed a personal route to Putin could get a message through if officials around the Russian president were limiting what reached him, the report says.
Conn’s first reported contact with Putin through Warnig came in September and October 2022, after formal talks in Istanbul had failed and Russian forces had withdrawn from the outskirts of Kyiv. On October 27, Putin publicly said that using nuclear weapons would make “no political or military sense” for Russia. Conn and Foresman viewed the public remarks as a sign that the nuclear danger had eased, although the Financial Times noted that Jake Sullivan and Yuri Ushakov were also discussing the issue through official channels around that time.
After the initial exchange, Conn and Foresman sought to move beyond carrying messages. With help from businessman Michael Calvey, Conn contacted Ukrainian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who knew President Volodymyr Zelensky. The proposed terms included Russian withdrawal from most areas Moscow had just declared annexed, while treating Crimea and parts of Donbas occupied before 2022 differently. These were unofficial proposals, not an announced agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
“No political or military sense”
— Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club on October 27, 2022
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What the Backchannel Could Not Settle
The published account does not establish that Putin personally approved every message attributed to him, or that the notebook wording was a verbatim record. It also does not show that either government formally considered or accepted the proposed settlement terms. The source material provides no evidence that the unofficial initiative changed military decisions or led to direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian governments.
The precise sequence and substance of all exchanges remain difficult to verify publicly because the channel was private and relied on intermediaries. The report says official negotiators brought it to an end in early 2023, but does not provide a full account of their reasons. Later U.S. attempts to negotiate an end to the war involved other people and had not succeeded, according to the report’s account.
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No Agreement Reported from the Effort
The reporting describes a past effort rather than a live negotiation process. It does not identify a scheduled follow-up meeting, a renewed role for Conn, or a new initiative arising from the channel. Any further account of the exchanges would depend on additional reporting or statements from people involved.
The central outcome remains that the channel ended without a reported peace deal. Subsequent diplomatic efforts have been separate from Conn’s initiative, and the report says they have yet to achieve a peaceful end to the war. Whether any of the proposals or messages affected later discussions is not established by the available account.
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Key Questions
Who is Richard Conn?
Richard Conn is an American corporate lawyer and investor who began working in Russia in 1992. The Financial Times report says he proposed a private route for delivering a message from the Biden administration to Putin.
How did the message reach Putin?
Conn and investor Bob Foresman used their contacts to reach Matthias Warnig, a longtime Putin associate. Warnig reportedly passed the White House message to Putin and later relayed a response back to Conn and Foresman.
What did the unofficial peace proposal include?
The reported proposal called for Russia to withdraw from most areas it had recently declared annexed, while treating Crimea and parts of Donbas occupied before 2022 separately. The report describes an unofficial proposal, not terms accepted by the governments.
Did the backchannel produce a peace agreement?
No peace agreement is reported. The channel had effectively ended by early 2023, and the report says later U.S. efforts involving other people had not succeeded in ending the war.
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