Kremlin Says Trump Call to Putin 'Pure Fiction'

UPDATE Nov 11, 2024 7:30 PM CST

The Kremlin has firmly denied reports that President-elect Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin last week and urged the Russian leader not to escalate the war in Ukraine. "This is completely untrue, it is pure fiction," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, per the BBC. "This is simply false information. There was no conversation." Sources told outlets including Reuters on Sunday that Trump and Putin had spoken days earlier. Peskov said Monday that there "are no concrete plans" for Putin to speak to Trump. Steven Cheung, Trump's communications director said, "We do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders."

Nov 11, 2024 2:23 AM CST

President-elect Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone Thursday, their first conversation since Trump won the US presidential election, sources tell the Washington Post and Axios. Trump reportedly issued a warning to Putin, advising him to remember how large the US military presence in Europe is, and to not escalate Russia's war in Ukraine, the sources say. Trump and Putin also reportedly discussed a desire for peace in Europe, and, per one source, "the resolution of Ukraine's war soon." Trump, who previously spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, informed Zelensky about his call with Putin, and Ukraine did not object to their conversation, the sources say.

Since Trump's transition team has not yet signed an agreement with the General Services Administration, a standard part of US presidential transitions, the calls have not gone through official channels, sources say. Trump's team is not commenting on the reports, but his communications director issued a statement saying, "President Trump won a historic election decisively and leaders from around the world know America will return to prominence on the world stage. That is why leaders have begun the process of developing stronger relationships with the 45th and 47th President, because he represents global peace and stability." (More Donald Trump stories.)