Russia said it could not confirm the veracity of President Donald Trump‘s claim that he told Russian President Vladimir Putin he would bomb Moscow if Ukraine was invaded.
Audio of Trump speaking at a private meeting with fundraisers in 2024 about the conversation with Putin was broadcast by CNN.
“The fact is that there were no telephone conversations then,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, state news agency TASS reported.
“After all, we are talking, as far as I understand, about the period when Trump was not yet the president of the United States.”
Peskov, whose remarks were originally in Russian, said: “I work in Russia, thank God.”
He continued: “Whether this is fake or not, we also do not know. There are a lot of fakes now. Often, there are many more fakes than true information. And we always proceed from this when we analyze certain news.”
Why It Matters
CNN said the audio was from 2024 but it is not immediately clear when the alleged conversation between Putin and Trump took place.
Peskov’s comments Wednesday effectively reject Trump’s claims made in the audio that he had warned Putin against entering Ukraine,—at least during the Biden administration.
But in November, the Kremlin said a Washington Post report that Putin had spoken by phone with Trump after the U.S. election was false, a denial many analysts did not believe.
Peskov’s latest remarks will add to diplomatic intrigue between the countries at a time when Trump is stepping up his criticism of Putin.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
The post Russia Reacts to Trump Saying He Threatened to Bomb Moscow appeared first on Newsweek.
