President Trump confirmed Wednesday that he plans for his Board of Peace to eat into the United Nations’ long-standing role in mediating world conflicts — as he revealed Russian President Vladimir Putin is joining the board despite waging an ongoing war on Ukraine.
“We want all nations where people have control [and] have power. That way we’re never going to have a problem,” Trump told reporters in Davos, Switzerland.
“Yeah, I have some controversial people on it, but these are people that get the job done. These are people that have tremendous influence. If I put all babies on the board, it wouldn’t be very much.”
President Trump gave new fuel to speculation that his Board of Peace could eat into the United Nations’ long-standing role in mediating world conflicts. REUTERSTrump said Putin “was invited [and] he’s accepted. Many people have accepted.”
Putin will serve on the board despite waging the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II — conquering parts of next-door Ukraine and rebuffing direct peace talks over the course of the nearly four-year conflict.
“I think the Board of Peace will be the most prestigious board ever. And it’s going to get a lot of work done that the United Nations should have done,” Trump added.
“We’ll work with the United Nations, but the Board of Peace is going to be special.”
An official revealed to The Post that 56 countries so far had been invited to join.
Smoke rises from a scene of destruction in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border in southern Israel, January 21, 2026. REUTERSTrump clarified his expansive vision for the board after delivering a speech at the World Economic Forum in which he hinted that the board would address conflicts outside of its original mission in the Gaza Strip, for which it gained UN authorization.
“I think it’s the greatest board ever formed,” Trump said of the organization he will lead — potentially in perpetuity — as he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who accepted a board spot.
“Some need parliamentary approval, but for the most part everybody wants to be on it,” he said. “I have a little bit of the opposite problem: People want to be on it. We didn’t ask them. They want to get on. But we’ll look at the countries.”
Before attending the annual Alpine gathering of global leaders, Trump told reporters in Washington that the board “might” replace the UN’s core mission, in addition to its role supervising a fledgling “technocratic” interim government in Gaza.
Belarus’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Ruslan Varankov shows a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump inviting Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko to join the “Board of Peace”, during a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, in this image released January 19, 2026. via REUTERS“Well, it might. The UN just hasn’t been very helpful,” Trump said Tuesday. “I’m a big fan of the UN’s potential, but it has never lived up to its potential. The UN should have settled every one of the wars that I settled.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNBC Wednesday that “we have north of 20, maybe 25 world leaders who have already accepted” positions on the board of peace.
French President Emmanuel Macron has rejected an invitation to participate, with his government citing concerns that the board would undermine the UN.
A permanent seat on the board comes with a $1 billion requested contribution.
Countries that have publicly confirmed their participation include Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Canada, Egypt, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
