The Kremlin has dismissed reports claiming that US President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where Trump allegedly urged Putin to avoid escalating the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov labelled the media reports as “pure fiction,” stating that Putin has no plans to speak with Trump at the moment.
“This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it’s just false information. There was no conversation,” Peskov told reporters.
He further criticised the quality of the information being published, saying,
“This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications.”
When asked about any potential future contacts between Putin and Trump, Peskov replied, “There are no concrete plans yet.”
The Washington Post had initially reported that Trump held the call from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, just days after his election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris. Citing anonymous sources familiar with the call, it claimed that Trump reminded Putin of the significant US military presence in Europe and expressed an interest in discussing “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon.” Reuters also reported the call took place, citing sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
However, Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, did not confirm the conversation, stating in a written statement,
“We do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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