By Dmitry Antonov, Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin on Monday denied reports that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days, and said Putin had no concrete plans yet to speak to Trump.
The Washington Post first reported that the call had taken place, citing unidentified sources, and said that Trump had told Putin that he should not escalate the Ukraine war. Reuters also reported on the call, citing an unidentified source.
“This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it’s just false information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “There was no conversation.”
“This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications,” Peskov said.
Asked if Putin had plans for any contacts with Trump, Peskov said: “There are no concrete plans yet.”
The 2-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what some officials say could be its final – most dangerous – phase as Moscow’s forces advance at their fastest pace since the early weeks of the conflict and the West ponders how the war will end.
Trump said during campaigning that he could bring peace in Ukraine within 24 hours if elected, but has given few details on how he would seek to end the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Putin congratulated Trump on Thursday, praised him for showing courage when a gunman tried to assassinate him, and said Moscow was ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect.
WAR AND PEACE
Russia has been signalling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give permission to Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, then Moscow will consider it a major escalation.
Putin said on Sept. 12 that Western approval for such a step would mean “the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine” because NATO military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.
The Kremlin said that it sensed European powers were nervous about Trump’s election, but that they were still “pumping weapons into Ukraine in order to continue this war to the end.”
Peskov was asked about reports that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to convince U.S. President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to fire Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia.
“Nothing can be ruled out,” Peskov said, adding that European leaders still wanted to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
“We, in turn, will continue the SMO (special military operation) until we achieve all our goals,” Peskov said. “The dynamic of the SMO is well understood by the military. They understand well what is happening. And it is probably important to note that no individual types of weapons are able to change this dynamic anymore.”
Putin, who ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, casts the war as a battle between Russia and the declining West, which he says ignored Russia’s interests after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Ukraine and its Western allies say Putin unleashed an imperial-style war against its smaller neighbour and have repeatedly said that if Russia wins the war then autocratic countries across the world will be emboldened.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge/Anastasia Teterevleva; editing by Andrew Osborn/William Maclean)
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