Moscow: The Kremlin on Monday denied reports that US President-elect Donald Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days, and said Putin had no concrete plans yet to speak to Trump. The Washington Post first reported that the call had taken place, citing unidentified sources, and said that Trump had told Putin that he should not escalate the Ukraine war. Later news agency Reuters also reported on the call, citing an unidentified source.
However, the Kremlin spokesperson on Monday rejected the reports and called them false information and
Kremlin dubbs Putin-Trump phone call “fictional”
“This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it’s just false information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “There was no conversation.” “This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications,” Peskov said. Asked if Putin had plans for any contacts with Trump, Peskov said: “There are no concrete plans yet.”
What did media reports claim?
Earlier, media reports claimed Trump advised Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of “Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe”.
During the election campaign, Trump said he would find a solution to end the war “within a day,” but did not explain how he would do so. Trump had also spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday, according to media reports.
On Friday, the Kremlin said Putin was ready to discuss Ukraine with Trump but that did not mean that he was willing to alter Moscow’s demands. On June 14, Putin set out his terms for an end to the war: Ukraine would have to drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from all of the territory of four regions claimed by Russia.
Ukraine rejected that, saying it would be tantamount to capitulation, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has put forward a “victory plan” that includes requests for additional military support from the West.
(With inputs from agencies)
ALSO READ: Donald Trump speaks to Putin, advises not to escalate Ukraine war: Report