Russian officials denied reports about a call between Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday. A Kremlin spokesperson also indicated that Moscow had ‘no concrete plans yet’ to communicate with the Republican politician.
“This is completely untrue, it is pure fiction. There was no conversation,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He also indicated that there was “no concrete plans yet” for contact between the two leaders.
The clarification came in the wake of US media reports that claimed Trump had told Putin that he should not escalate the Ukraine war. The news was first broken by The Washington Post and then Reuters — with both citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
"The two men discussed the goal of peace on the European continent and Trump expressed an interest in follow-up conversations to discuss 'the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon,” The Washington Post quoted one of its sources as saying.
The publication also cited a former US official familiar with the alleged call to add that Trump did not wish to enter office amid a fresh crisis in Ukraine prompted by Russian escalation. He had reportedly ‘advised Putin to avoid escalating the war and reminded him the country's sizable military presence in Europe’.
Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on January 20. The Republican leader has insisted on several occasions that he could oversee an end to the Ukraine conflict within weeks — well before his inauguration.
“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” he had insisted in May 2023.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden have drastically different approaches to the ongoing international conflicts — with the Republican leader often making broad policy pledges that put “America First”. He has also been vocal in his admiration for authoritarians leaders such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Vladimir Putin in Russia.
(With inputs from agencies)
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