U.S. lawyer Richard Conn brokered secret back-channel talks with Putin that fizzled in early 2023

Richard Conn, an American corporate lawyer with decades of experience in Russia, initiated a secret diplomatic track after a Russian businessman warned that the failure to take Kyiv could push Vladimir Putin toward tactical nuclear use. Working with investor Bob Foresman and National Security Council Russia-policy official Eric Green, Conn delivered a White House statement that the U.S. was not seeking regime change or the destruction of Russia.

In October 2022, Conn and Foresman met Matthias Warnig in Zurich, who passed the message to Putin, and later received a written response at Frankfurt Airport that hinted at openness to negotiations. Encouraged by this, Conn and Foresman facilitated unofficial peace proposals that would see Russia pull back from most annexed territories while Ukraine recognized Russian control of Crimea and secured a land corridor, with NATO protection for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and chief of staff Andriy Yermak refused the concessions, and by February 2023 official negotiators Yuri Ushakov and Eric Green ended the back-channel after Putin demanded confirmation from Jake Sullivan that the businessmen represented U.S. interests, which was not provided.