'Trump's adventurous idea to raise some money': expert on U.S. President's Peace Council

Maksym Rozumnyi, expert at the Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"This is an interesting initiative from the President of the United States, and I particularly like this point about a contribution of one billion U.S. dollars. It reminds me of a plot from Ilf and Petrov's novel The Twelve Chairs, where Ostap Bender created the Union of the Sword and the Ploughshare and invited everyone to make their contributions. So it seems to me that this is Trump's adventurous idea to raise some money and to somewhat diversify his image and the global political agenda. In short, two in one: beautiful and useful, as the classic said," he stated.

Maksym Rozumnyi noted that Trump wants to indulge himself with the idea of creating a Peace Council.

"I understand that, if we're talking about self-perception and this megalomania, it's obvious that the peace prize presented by the Venezuelan opposition politician did not satisfy Donald Trump's ego, and he decided to indulge himself with something else. And I understand he has no reason to abandon such ideas for now," he added.

What is known about Trump's Peace Council

On January 16, American leader Donald Trump announced the creation of a Peace Council, which is to handle post-war governance of the Gaza Strip, as well as the transition to the next phase of a 20-point peace plan for the region.

Its members include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special representative Steve Witkoff, the U.S. President's son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, American billionaire and CEO of investment company Apollo Global Management Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel.