Officially, Steve Witkoff is President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. But he is also involved in U.S. policy toward Russia. Of the recent phone call between Trump and Putin, Witkoff said, “It was these two great leaders coming together for the betterment of mankind, and it was honestly a privilege and an honor for me to sit there and listen to that conversation.”

Anyone who believes that Putin is interested in the betterment of mankind is dangerously naïve about Putin and his Kremlin. As for “great leaders” . . .

Leave Trump aside for a moment, concentrating on Putin. I myself do not regard Putin as a great leader. He is a tyrant, who murders, maims, or imprisons his critics; who has abolished civil society and independent media in Russia; who has invaded a neighbor, engulfing that country in violence, for the purpose of crushing and subjugating it.

In Ukraine, Russian forces have committed mass murder, mass rape, mass torture, mass kidnapping, and so forth.

No, I do not regard Putin as a great leader. He is a disaster for millions, like the predecessors he admires, including Stalin and Andropov.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Russian democracy leader and former political prisoner, made this point recently: that Putin “idolizes Stalin and Andropov.” (To read Kara-Murza’s statement, go here.)

• Witkoff was talking with Sean Hannity of Fox News, when he was heralding Putin and Trump as “great leaders” working for “the betterment of mankind.” Much as Witkoff praised Putin, he reserved his highest praise for Trump. For instance, he said, “I can’t overstate how compelling he was on this call. He’s a natural-born leader, Sean, and he demonstrated that today.”

Hannity answered, “There’s no other human being like him, I will say that.” (Many could agree with Hannity.)

• Elsewhere, Witkoff has spoken of Putin’s “good faith.” “I tend to believe that President Putin is operating in good faith.” “I take him at his word.” Etc.

I joined the Republican Party in, I think, 1983. (Left in 2016.) There were several reasons, but a big one was foreign policy: The Democrats, I thought, were naïve about the Kremlin, and about the enemies of freedom in general; Republicans, on the other hand, were realistic, clear-eyed.

To see the GOP so naïve, so gullible, today is — shocking.

• You know who is neither naïve nor gullible? Putin’s man Dmitri Medvedev. Ponder what he has said here:

• Steve Witkoff speaks of the “rapport” that Trump enjoys with Putin. I thought of another word: “chemistry.” In 2018, I wrote an article called “Chemistry Lessons”:

At his rally in Minnesota, President Trump said he had “great chemistry” with Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea. Last year, he said he had “great chemistry” with Xi Jinping, the boss of the Chinese Communist Party.

In March of this year, the president tweeted about Putin and Russia: “Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the ‘smarts.’ Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry.”

Chemistry can be a beautiful thing, of course. Especially desirable is chemistry between the leaders of allied countries (the U.S. and Britain, for example). Good relations with dictators can be desirable too, for particular strategic purposes. But beware too much chemistry with dictators. This chemistry may result from refusing to challenge dictators on their brutal practices, and refusing to stand up for American values.

• Something to be aware of: “Trump terminates program tracking mass abductions of Ukrainian children.” The subheading of that report: “Observers fear the move has compromised evidence of war crimes by Russian officials and will hinder efforts to rescue thousands of missing Ukrainian children.”

If there is an innocent explanation for the termination of this program — I would like to hear it.

• Said President Trump, “One of the nastiest countries to deal with is Canada. Now, this was Trudeau — good old Justin. I call him ‘Governor Trudeau.’ His people were nasty, and they weren’t telling the truth.”

Uh-huh. Those nasty, lying Canadians. Let me ask you something: Have you ever heard Trump talk this way about Putin and the Kremlin? One time?

• No fool is Boris Johnson. Would that we had such realism in Washington.

• No fool is Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, either:

• John Bolton remains John Bolton — unfoolable:

• Here is Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania:

• It is important to remember that Putin and the Kremlin are not the whole of Russia. There are the political prisoners and many other people of conscience. From Meduza — a Russian news organization in exile — you can read about Maria Ponamarenko, here. She is “serving a six-year prison sentence for spreading ‘disinformation’ about the Russian army.” In her desperation, she has now “cut her own veins.”

To say it again, a different way: We ought to remember the likes of Maria Ponamarenko.