Behold Witkoff’s breakfast

Trump’s envoy reportedly ate a giant meat pie before meeting with Putin. Russian media couldn’t get enough.

In the hours after U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, few details were released publicly. Still, pro-Kremlin media had no trouble finding something to report. RIA Novosti, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Lenta.ru, and even the official newspaper of the Russian Senate all published stories — about Witkoff’s breakfast. According to these reports, the American diplomat ordered an unusually large cheburek — the fried, savory pastry that’s a staple of Crimean Tatar cuisine and popular across Ukraine, Russia, and the wider region. Here’s what they had to say.

The original report about Steve Witkoff’s breakfast came from Russian state media agency RIA Novosti, whose correspondent said Witkoff ordered the “La Grande” cheburek stuffed with lamb and beef. Size-wise, the journalist compared it to “a loaf of bread or a giant dinner roll.” However, the report added that the pastry “owes its volume more to the air inside than the amount of filling.”

The report noted that the cheburek comes with disposable gloves to keep its eater’s hands clean, “though the dish can also be easily cut with a knife.” The pie sells for 550 rubles ($7).

Stories about the oversized cheburek appeared in more than a dozen outlets, with headlines like:

• Trump’s special envoy enjoyed an enormous cheburek for 500 rubles in Moscow (News.ru)
• Trump’s special envoy indulged in a cheburek ahead of his meeting with Putin (Ura.ru)
• Chef [Maxim] Tarusin reveals which cheburek Steve Witkoff ate in Moscow (Argumenty i Fakty)
• Recipe for the ‘Grand’ cheburek that had Steve Witkoff raving (Parents.ru)
• Trump’s billionaire special envoy had a 500-ruble cheburek for breakfast before meeting with Vladimir Putin (Spletnik.ru)
• ‘He tried to say thank you in Russian’: Trump envoy Steve Witkoff ate a giant cheburek in Moscow (Komsomolskaya Pravda)
• Journalists uncover the reason Witkoff visited a Moscow restaurant before talks with Putin (Vechernyaya Moskva)

Steve Witkoff has not commented on his purported breakfast in Moscow.

The last time Russian media devoted so much attention to an American visitor was when former Fox News host Tucker Carlson visited Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin. Read our coverage of the media frenzy here.