Kremlin refutes claims of Trump-Putin post-election talks
The Kremlin denies that Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin following his victory in the US presidential elections. "There was no conversation," stated Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov. "This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it's just false information," he added. Peskov also mentioned that Putin does not have "concrete" plans to talk with Trump.
Much of the information provided by Russian media or government representatives consists of propaganda. Such reports are part of the information war conducted by the Russian Federation.
"Reports in the foreign press about the alleged telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump are false," stated Putin's press spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a press conference.
The Kremlin spokesperson described reports by "The Washington Post" and Reuters as "the most clear example of the quality of the information that is now published sometimes even in quite respected publications."
"There was no conversation. This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it's just false information," Peskov told journalists.
A conversation that never happened?
The first report of a conversation on Thursday came from the American newspaper The Washington Post, which was also confirmed by Reuters. Media reported that Trump allegedly advised the Russian leader not to escalate the conflict in Ukraine, and the conversation was about "peace on the European continent."
Information published by the Washington newspaper indicated that Ukraine was previously warned about the telephone contact between the US and Russian leaders and did not express any objections. However, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs later denied that Kyiv had been warned about the conversation.
The Kremlin on Putin's latest conversation
According to the Kremlin's website, Putin's last telephone conversation with Trump took place in July 2020 (at that time, Trump was completing his first term as president). The agenda included various international issues, including strategic stability.
The last telephone conversation between Putin and the American leader took place on 12 February 2022. Putin and Joe Biden talked for over an hour, and the main topics were security guarantees for Russia and the situation around Ukraine. They also discussed bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.
