WASHINGTON: US president-elect Donald Trump spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and urged him not to escalate the war in Ukraine, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Trump held the call from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, just days after his stunning election victory over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, the report said.

Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, did not confirm the exchange, expressing in a written statement that “we do not comment on private calls between

President Trump and other world leaders.” The Post reported that Trump had reminded Putin of America’s sizable military presence in Europe

Kremlin denies president-elect’s call, says West not ready for talks

Russia also on Monday denied reported call between Putin and Trump and said it saw no signs the West was ready for talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the report, telling journalists it was “false”.

A senior Ukrainian presidency official also said Kyiv was “not informed” of any call between Putin and Trump.

The report said he also expressed an interest in further conversations to discuss “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon.” Trump also spoke by phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday and the pair “agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe,” according to Scholz’s spokesman.

But Peskov said “there are no preparations” for Putin to hold talks with Scholz and it was too early to say whether Europe’s position on Ukraine had changed. “We see a certain nervousness, various fears among Europeans over the election of Mr Trump as US president,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

Putin last week “repeated that he is open to all talks”, Peskov said, but “no preparation is being carried out now. We have not received any signals”. “If they say that some signals will come out, then we have to wait.” So far, “European leaders are continuing... to try to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia”, Peskov said, while Moscow is “continuing our special operation until we achieve all our aims”.

Trump’s election is set to have a major bearing on the almost three-year Ukraine conflict, as he insists on a quick end to the fighting and casts doubt on Washington’s multi-billion dollar support for Kyiv.

‘Losing your allowance’

The Russian government has given a cautious but mostly positive response to Trump’s return, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying on Sunday: “The signals are positive... At least he’s talking about peace, and not about confrontation.”

Trump and his allies have railed against US funding for Ukraine, while insinuating that it helps fund a corrupt pro-war nexus of defence companies and foreign policy hawks.

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, shared a clip Saturday on Instagram which showed Zelensky standing next to the president-elect with a caption reading: “POV (point of view): You’re 38 days from losing your allowance.” Any quick deal in Ukraine is expected to require Kyiv to cede some of the territory it has lost to Russian invaders in Ukraine’s south and east.

A former adviser to Trump, Bryan Lanza, told the BBC on Saturday that Ukraine had to give up any ambition of regaining Crimea, for instance, which was occupied by Russia in 2014. Trump “briefly raised the issue of land” in his call with Putin, the Post reported, without further details.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2024