Kremlin denies telephone call between Trump and Putin: "Pure fiction"

Berliner Zeitung Kremlin denies telephone call between Trump and Putin: "Pure fiction" Article by Katerina Alexandridi • 2 hours • 1 minute reading time The Russian president's spokesman has denied a report that Vladimir Putin had a telephone call with Donald Trump shortly after his election victory. This was "false news," Dmitri Peskov told journalists on Monday morning. In addition, there are no preparations for Putin to contact Western heads of state, and Moscow has not received any signals to this effect, Peskov said. "This is the clearest example of the quality of the information that is now being published even in fairly reputable publications," Peskov is quoted as saying by Russian state media. "This is pure fiction, it is simply false information." The Washington Post reported on Sunday evening that Trump had warned Putin against an escalation of the war in Ukraine. Citing several sources, the US daily reported that Trump had the phone call with Putin on Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in the state of Florida. During the call, he reminded the Kremlin chief of the significant US military presence in Europe. According to the Washington Post, both politicians expressed their interest in further talks to discuss an early "settlement of the Ukraine war". The question of Ukraine's future territorial structure was also briefly addressed in the phone call. Reuters also reported on Monday morning that Ukraine had not been informed in advance of a phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Sources from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told the news agency that for this reason, Kiev could neither "approve nor reject" such a phone call.