Kremlin: Hey, Don't Release Transcripts of Our Calls

Moscow doesn't want to see Trump-Putin conversations made public
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2019 7:45 AM CDT
Kremlin: Hey, Don't Release Transcripts of Our Calls
Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in Sochi, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018.   (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, Pool)

The Kremlin is weighing in on the Trump-Ukraine phone controversy, though not about whether President Trump did or did not act appropriately. Instead, Russia has a narrower focus in mind: It doesn't want the US to release transcripts of Trump-Putin calls, reports Bloomberg. "We would like to hope that things won't come to such situations in our bilateral relations, which already have plenty of quite serious problems," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"This is a rather unusual practice," Peskov added. "As a rule, the materials from conversations on the level of the head of state are considered secret or top secret." He did not venture an opinion on the actual conversation between Trump and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky. One nugget has previously emerged from a Trump-Putin call: Last year, Trump's national security advisers gave him an all-caps suggestion before the two leaders spoke: "DO NOT CONGRATULATE," a reference to Putin's re-election, reports the Washington Post. Trump, however, opted to ignore the advice. (More Kremlin stories.)

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