Russian envoy accuses NYT of undermining Witkoff’s Gaza peace role

Kirill A. Dmitriev, Special Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, accused The New York Times of deliberately undermining President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, work in Gaza talks.

He also credited Witkoff as the key architect of Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan, which he described as “built for lasting Middle East peace," Caliber.Az reports.

In a post on X, Dmitriev criticised legacy media, particularly the NYT, for allegedly failing to recognise the successes of the Trump team.

"At NYT, 'balance' gave way to an 'ends justify the means' mindset: never credit Trump-team successes; treat undermining his envoys as mission-critical. When did advocacy replace balance? Here are the switches—who and when," he wrote.

President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was the key driving force behind Trump’s Gaza peace plan—built for lasting Middle East peace. Legacy media, led by the NYT, tried to undermine Witkoff’s work—and in doing so, to undermine peace itself. 🧵👇 https://t.co/Ge9HgUGVSj

— Kirill A. Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) October 4, 2025

Dmitriev argued that several key developments at the newspaper reflected a shift from neutrality to advocacy. He cited a September 2016 statement from then-public editor Liz Spayd, who wrote that “the problem with false balance doctrine is that it masquerades as rational thinking,” a move Dmitriev said indicated a decision to favour one side in Trump coverage.

He also highlighted Nikole Hannah-Jones’ October 2017 comment in NYT Magazine: “I’m not, and none of us are… I’m not going to pretend to be objective,” describing it as a declared anti-Trump stance.

Dmitriev further pointed to the elimination of the public editor role by publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. in May 2017, arguing that removing the in-house ombudsman lowered accountability and internal pressure for balanced reporting.

Finally, he referenced a December 2023 warning from former Opinion Editor James Bennet that newsroom editors were urging “trigger warnings” on conservative pieces, which Dmitriev called an effort “to stigmatize dissent rather than debate it.”

He concluded: “The net effect: NYT moved from ‘hear both sides’ to ‘argue one side’—attack and undermine Trump-team always while ignoring the truth. Journalism’s job is to test every claim. Peace wins when success is recognized, not erased.”

By Sabina Mammadli