The Kremlin on Monday rejected reports that President Vladimir Putin spoke last week with President-elect Donald Trump about , and a spokesman for Trump refused to comment on what he called his 鈥減rivate calls鈥� with world leaders.
The Washington Post first reported on Sunday, citing anonymous sources, that the two spoke on Thursday, with Trump advising Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and cited the sizable U.S. military presence in Europe.
In a conference call Monday with journalists, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said 鈥渢here was no conversation鈥� and the report was 鈥渃ompletely untrue, it is pure fiction.鈥�
Asked about the report, Trump's communications directory Steven Cheung said, 鈥淲e do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders.鈥�
Speaking at a foreign policy forum Thursday in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin to Trump on his and praised him for what he said was 鈥渂rave鈥� behavior during an assassination attempt on him in July.
Peskov said 鈥渢here are no specific plans yet鈥� for a conversation between Putin and Trump. He said previously that contacts between the two before Trump's inauguration 鈥渁re not ruled out鈥� and pointed to Trump saying that he would call Putin before the inauguration. He denied, however, that Russia's presidential administration or Foreign Ministry had any contacts with Trump's campaign after the election.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could quickly end the fighting in Ukraine but did not offer details of how he would accomplish that.
Russia has intensified strikes on in Ukraine as the war approaches its 1,000-day mark. For its part, Ukraine over the weekend sent a massive wave of drones that rattled Moscow and its suburbs.
The Associated Press
