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US-Russia talks on Ukraine include Lukoil oil deal

Multibillion-dollar transaction would benefit Middle Eastern executives tied to Trump negotiators.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

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Vladimir Putin și Donald Trump. Foto: Profimedia

What this story says

  • US-Russia talks on ending the war in Ukraine have reportedly expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal involving Lukoil's international assets.
  • The proposed deal would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the proposed Lukoil transaction when he met Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin on September 5.
  • The deal requires approval from both the US government and the Kremlin.

Who covered it

Left 0%(0)Centre 42%(5)Right 58%(7)

Percentages are shares of the 12 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 16 of the 28 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

60/100

Craft

60/100

Hype

40/100

28 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

None of the 12 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Negotiations between the US and Russia concerning the war in Ukraine have reportedly broadened to encompass a multibillion-dollar oil transaction involving Lukoil's international assets. This proposed deal, which requires approval from both the US government and the Kremlin, would benefit Middle Eastern business executives who have connections to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly raised the potential Lukoil deal during a meeting with Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin on September 5.

The transaction would cover Lukoil's overseas portfolio, including oil fields, refineries, and gas stations. A group led by US investor Todd Boehly, which includes Middle Eastern investors and potentially the US government, has emerged as a leading bidder. The New York Times reported these details, citing eight individuals familiar with the negotiations. The deal has drawn attention to the business links of Witkoff and Kushner, who are involved in US efforts to engage Moscow on the Ukraine war. While there is no indication that Witkoff or Kushner would personally profit, the deal raises questions about the intersection of diplomatic efforts and business interests.

Disagreement on deal specifics

The New York Times reported that the proposed deal would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. However, the Times of India digest stated that the prospective investor group includes people with business ties to Trump's allies, and specifically named Qatar-based businessmen Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat, who have business ties with Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, and an Abu Dhabi investment fund controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which acquired a stake in World Liberty Financial, a company co-founded by Witkoff.

What the coverage left out

None of the centre-rated or right-rated reports mentioned the specific figure of $20 billion, which Lukoil valued its international assets at earlier this year, as reported by the Times of India.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 3 Oct 2026, 12:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

US-Russia talks on Ukraine now involve multi-billion dollar oil deal tied to Trump & his allies
Times of IndiaRight

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

0 rated outlets

No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.

Centre

5 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated reports led with the expansion of US-Russia talks to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal involving Lukoil's international assets. These reports highlighted that the deal would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. They also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the proposed Lukoil transaction when he met Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin on September 5. The requirement for approval from both the US government and the Kremlin was also a consistent point.

Right

7 rated outlets

  • Right-rated reports focused on the inclusion of a multibillion-dollar oil deal tied to Trump and his allies within the US-Russia talks on Ukraine. These reports frequently mentioned Todd Boehly as leading a group of potential buyers, alongside Middle Eastern investors and the US government. Several right-rated outlets specified that the Middle Eastern investors included the Al-Khayyat brothers, who have business ties with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and an Abu Dhabi investment fund controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which has links to Witkoff's company. The potential for the deal to release assets from American sanctions and increase their value was also noted.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover US-Russia talks on Ukraine include Lukoil oil deal?
Of the 12 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 42% are rated centre, 58% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 28. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is US-Russia talks on Ukraine include Lukoil oil deal left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 12 rated outlets on this story, 0% are rated left, 42% are rated centre, 58% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of US-Russia talks on Ukraine include Lukoil oil deal biased?
US-Russia talks on Ukraine include Lukoil oil deal is one event reported by 28 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting US-Russia talks on Ukraine include Lukoil oil deal?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered US-Russia talks on Ukraine include Lukoil oil deal?
28 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What is the proposed oil deal involving US-Russia talks?
The US-Russia talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine have reportedly expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal concerning Lukoil's international assets. This transaction involves oil fields, refineries, and gas stations globally owned by the Russian company.
Who are the key figures involved in the proposed deal?
The deal involves US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have ties to the potential Middle Eastern business executives involved. Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the transaction with Witkoff and Kushner. US investor Todd Boehly is reportedly leading a group of potential buyers.
What approvals are needed for the deal?
The proposed Lukoil oil deal requires approval from both the US government and the Kremlin. The US Treasury Department, which oversees sanctions enforcement, would be involved in the approval process.

Read it at the source

28 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

0

No outlet in this group ran the story.

Centre

5

Right

7

Not rated

16
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How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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