The Kremlin has denied reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US President-elect Donald Trump, calling the media reports “pure fiction.”
The Washington Post first reported the call, citing unnamed sources, and said Trump told Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine. Reuters also reported on the telephone conversation.
“It’s completely false. It’s pure fiction. It’s just false information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question about the call. “There was no conversation.
“This is the clearest example of the quality of information currently being published, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications.”
Peskov added that there are no concrete plans for Putin to speak to Trump.
Trump reminded Putin of “Washington’s significant military presence in Europe,” according to the Washington Post. He added that President Trump expressed interest in follow-up dialogue on “early resolution of the war in Ukraine.”
The call came after Putin congratulated Trump on Thursday on his election victory and expressed admiration for Trump’s response to an assassination attempt during the campaign, according to reports.
Peskov has a history of dismissing media reports that later turned out to be true. Most recently, he labeled reports of North Korean soldiers arriving in Russia as “fake news” despite reliable audio and video evidence supporting their presence. Still, the Kremlin’s immediate rejection of a phone call with Trump is likely to raise eyebrows, especially given that the two leaders have previously expressed an openness to dialogue.
Trump’s team has not yet confirmed the call. When asked by Fox News for comment on the Washington Post report, President Trump’s communications director Stephen Chan issued a statement saying, “We do not comment on President Trump’s private calls with world leaders.” Announced.
Peskov on Monday accused European leaders of continuing to seek Russia’s “strategic defeat.” He was responding to a question about the possibility of Britain allowing Ukraine to use the Storm Shadow long-range missile system to attack targets inside Russia.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said that Putin is ready to discuss Ukraine with the West, but that does not mean he is ready to change Russia’s demands.
On June 14, President Putin advocated a maximalist position toward ending the war. Ukraine must abandon its NATO ambitions and withdraw all its troops from all territory in four regions claimed by Russia.
During his campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war “within a day,” but he did not explain how. According to reports, he also met with Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. The Ukrainian president later acknowledged his conversation with Trump, calling it a “great meeting.”
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Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. government has provided tens of billions of dollars worth of military and economic aid to Ukraine, money that President Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly criticized. It’s something I’ve been insulting.
US President Joe Biden is scheduled to invite Trump to a traditional post-election meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, with the current leader trying to persuade the next president not to withdraw aid from Ukraine when he takes office. It seems that.
The talks come against the backdrop of reports that Russia, with the support of North Korean soldiers, is planning a major offensive to drive Ukrainian forces out of the western Kursk region.
On Sunday, the New York Times reported that Moscow had amassed 50,000 troops, including North Koreans, in areas bordering Ukraine for the attack. According to U.S. intelligence, 10,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia, a figure that includes 500 officers and three generals, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence chief.
In August, Ukraine launched a surprise invasion of the Kursk region and captured settlements on Russian territory, which was widely seen as a major embarrassment for President Putin. However, Russia gradually regained some of this territory and continued to make steady advances in large parts of eastern Ukraine.
