Alternative Path: Can Trump's Peace Council replace the UN

The Gaza Peace Council will not replace the UN, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe. Moreover, the new organization may make its members dependent on the United States. At the same time, Washington invites leaders of various countries to join the council in order to resolve issues of war and peace in the future, not only in the Middle East, but also around Venezuela and Ukraine. The Russian Federation has also received an offer to become a co-founding member and is considering it, the Kremlin said. About what the United States is trying to achieve and how much the right to vote in the new organization costs is in the Izvestia article.

Russia invited to the Gaza Peace Council

There is more and more information in the press about the new international organization, the Peace Council. Earlier, Donald Trump announced that she would lead the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and maintain peace in the Middle East. Over the past couple of days, a number of countries have reported that they have received an offer from the White House to join the organization. Russia is among them, the Kremlin said.

— Yes, indeed, President [Vladimir] Putin also received an invitation through diplomatic channels to join this Peace Council, and we are currently studying all the details of this proposal, including hoping to contact the American side in order to clarify all the nuances," said Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's press secretary.

Moscow has effectively communicated with all participants in the crisis, including Israel and Palestine, so inviting the Russian Federation is a natural decision, orientalist Leonid Tsukanov told Izvestia. According to him, Russia's participation in the body is more beneficial to the United States than to Moscow. Russia has established a close dialogue not only with the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, but also with Hamas. It is worth noting that on January 21-22, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Moscow.

In addition, Russia has good relations with the current authorities of Iran, which has not received an invitation from the Americans for obvious reasons — Washington still positions Tehran as one of the main threats to international security, and the issue of an American strike on Iranian territory is not off the agenda in the United States. Meanwhile, in June last year, when the conflict between Iran and Israel flared up with renewed vigor, Vladimir Putin expressed his readiness to provide mediation assistance to both sides. At the end of December 2025, the media reported that Iran and Israel, with the participation of Russia, agreed on a mutual refusal to strike at each other.

For example, Hungary, Greece, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Turkey have also received invitations to become a co-founder country. Initially, it was assumed that the council would include only Washington's Western allies, but eventually the composition was expanded. Trump also sent a proposal to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Earlier, there was a noticeable rapprochement in relations between the two countries: in December, the United States lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash. In return, as the media reported, Lukashenko pardoned 123 citizens of various states convicted in the country for extremism, terrorism and espionage.

Such a diverse composition is explained by the fact that Trump wants to create an international organization that will include the leaders of countries with which the head of the White House personally has good relations, says Farhad Ibragimov, a political scientist and lecturer at the Economics Faculty of the P. Lumumba Rudn University.

—Trump wants to create a new organization and then by the end of his term declare that he is the man who went down in history and formed a new world order," he told Izvestia.

The American president seeks to create the most balanced and multi-vector governing body that maintains ties with both the Palestinian factions and Israel, Leonid Tsukanov said.:

— Thus, he wants to create an image of himself as a peacemaker and negotiator, involving various players in the process. At the same time, he is in no hurry to invite China, which indicates the preservation of the US-Chinese rivalry.

The executive committee will play a special role in the Peace Council. It included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the American leader's son-in-law, investor Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, World Bank governor Ajay Banga and US Deputy National Security Adviser Robert Gabriel, the White House said.

Interestingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted negatively to the idea of the United States. According to him, the composition of the council was not agreed with the Israeli side and contradicts its policy. The Times of Israel writes that one of the reasons for this reaction was the inclusion of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, while Ankara has repeatedly accused Israel of inhumane actions in Gaza. Earlier, the Istanbul Prosecutor's office issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of genocide in the exclave.

Will the UN Peace Council replace

The White House has sent the text of the charter of the Peace Council to potential Member States. Meanwhile, the Financial Times, referring to the document, reports that the new organization will have a broader mandate that will allow it to compete with the UN and mediate in other global conflicts. According to US administration officials, in the future the council will participate in resolving the conflicts around Venezuela and Ukraine.

"The Peace Council is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore reliable and legitimate governance, and ensure lasting peace in conflict—affected or threatened areas," the charter says.

At the same time, the document says that the countries that have joined the council will hold their positions for three years, unless they contribute more than $1 billion during the first year of its work — then they will not become temporary participants, but permanent ones. Such conditions, as well as the fact that American politicians will play a key role in the executive committee, indicate that Trump is seeking to create an international structure controlled by the United States, former UN Deputy Secretary General Sergei Ordzhonikidze explained to Izvestia.:

— I do not have the impression that the mandate is clearly spelled out there, what and how the Peace Council will do. So far, it seems more like a prototype of a corporation close to Trump, it will solve issues in which he is solely interested. I do not understand how anyone can seriously engage in resolving the conflict in the Middle East when there is no Israel in the council and the organization's charter does not stipulate the right of the Palestinian Authority to establish its own State.

Trump's desire to play a leading role in the new organization undermines the principle of equality of global players and makes other actors de facto dependent on the US vision, Leonid Tsukanov agrees.

"This is already a rollback to a state of unipolarity, which most players would prefer to get rid of," the expert believes.

At the same time, it is no secret that the UN has been in a state of crisis for a long time, it is sometimes compared to an "old company" that cannot adapt to modern challenges and does not reflect the world's movement towards multipolarity. In 2017, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres acknowledged that the world organization is burdened with "fragmented structures, confusing procedures and endless bureaucracy." He also said that the huge number of meetings held under the auspices of the United Nations and a ton of documentation are pushing the organization to the point of no return.

Sergei Ordzhonikidze admits that the UN really needs reforms, but the new body in the face of the Peace Council is far from replacing it. The composition of the council's members is not comparable to the United Nations, and the structure has not yet gained sufficient credibility, Tsukanov added. Finally, the absence of China, one of the five members of the UN Security Council, automatically weakens the organization's position.

Any formats that replace the UN mission will be unacceptable for the Russian Federation, says Oleg Karpovich, Vice-rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

— We are interested in ensuring that dialogue with the United States does not contradict Russia's efforts to maintain a multipolar world order. And we are not alone in this," he added.

Most likely, this advice, given its American-centric nature, will have only symbolic significance, the expert concluded.