Russia, Belarus say they received invites to Trump's Gaza Peace Board
Editor's note: The story was updated with additional details.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an invitation to join U.S. President Donald Trump's new Board of Peace for Gaza, the Kremlin said on Jan. 19.
Moscow is currently reviewing the proposal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to state news agency TASS.
Trump later confirmed extending an invitation to the Russian leader when asked by a reporter.
"Yeah, he's been invited," the U.S. president said.
The international Board of Peace is meant to oversee the 20-point ceasefire deal the U.S. brokered between Israel and Hamas last October. Several countries, including India, Canada, Turkey, Argentina, Germany, Poland, France, and Hungary, said they had also received an invitation.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, broadly seen as the most Kremlin-friendly leader in the EU, has accepted the offer.
Putin's ally, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, has also been offered a seat on the Board, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry claims.
"The proposal has been conveyed to the president (Lukashenko) and received positively," said Ruslan Varankov, the ministry's spokesperson, according to the state news agency Belta.
France, in turn, will likely reject the offer as the framework "goes beyond the sole framework of Gaza," a source close to the French presidential office told AFP.
Trump dismissed Macron's reluctance to join the Board, saying that "nobody wants" the French president as he is "going to be out of office very soon."
"If they feel hostile, I'll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes, and he'll join," Trump added.
According to a draft charter seen by Bloomberg, countries would have to pay $1 billion to secure a permanent seat on the Board. Otherwise, each member would serve a term of no more than three years, subject to renewal by its chairperson.
With Trump taking the lead as the inaugural chairman of the Board, critics fear that the U.S. president is building his own alternative to the U.N., Bloomberg reported.
Should Russia secure a seat on the Board of Peace, it would serve in the role while simultaneously waging an all-out war against Ukraine.
Unlike his predecessor, Joe Biden, Trump has sought to engage Putin diplomatically to end hostilities in Ukraine. The year-long effort has failed to secure a ceasefire, with Moscow escalating strikes against Ukrainian cities over the winter.
The Financial Times reported that U.S. officials consider "expanding" the Gaza Board of Peace to also include other conflict zones, including Ukraine.
Working alongside the Board of Peace will be an Executive Board made up of several of the president's top aides, including Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as foreign public figures like ex-U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Executive Board will aim to ensure that Gaza, ravaged by the war that broke out in October 2023, "transitions from conflict to peace and development," the White House said.
