The Kremlin on Monday rejected reports about an alleged telephone conversation between US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, dismissing such claims as “pure fiction”.
“Report on Putin-Trump call is untrue – there was no call. Putin has no specific plans to speak to Trump at the present,” the statement said.
The Washington Post first reported that the call took place on Thursday. Reuters also reported that the call took place.
The Washington Post reported Trump held the call from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, just days after his stunning election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the recently-concluded US presidential elections.
The report further claimed that during the conversation advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine. During the call, the Preseident-elect reminded Putin of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe, the Washington Post stated citing a person familiar with the call.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to immediately settle the Ukrainian conflict but did not say how he was planning to do this. According to the newspaper, Trump said privately that he would support an agreement where Russia kept some of the liberated territories and during the phone call with Putin, he had briefly touched upon the issue of territories.
The US daily noted that the Ukrainian government was informed about the call and it did not object to it as the Kyiv officials understood that Trump would discuss the matter with Putin.