The Kremlin has denied reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US President-elect Donald Trump, calling the media reports “pure fiction.”
washington post first reported Citing unnamed sources, the report said Trump told Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine. Reuters also reported the call.
“It's completely false. It's pure fiction. It's just false information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked 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 said.
Peskov added that Putin has no concrete plans to speak to Trump at this time.
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 Ukraine war.”
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.
Trump also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday, according to media reports.
Peskov on Monday accused European leaders of continuing to seek Russia's “strategic defeat.” Peskov 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.
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 has been criticized.
