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Kremlin Neither Confirms Nor Denies Trump-Putin Phone Call

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 26, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 26, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
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Kremlin Neither Confirms Nor Denies Trump-Putin Phone Call

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 26, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 26, 2024. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

The Kremlin said on Monday it could neither confirm nor deny whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken to US President Donald Trump by phone.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump indicated that the two men had been in contact. That would mark the first officially acknowledged conversation between Putin and a US president since early 2022.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was unable to say more about the subject, noting that a day earlier he had said he was unable to confirm or deny that Putin and Trump had been in touch.

"I made a statement to that effect yesterday," Peskov told reporters on a conference call when asked if Putin and Trump had spoken by phone. "And there is nothing else I can say. I can neither confirm nor deny it."

The US President has repeatedly said he wants to end the Ukraine war and that he will meet with Putin to discuss it, though the date or venue for such a meeting has not been announced.

Reuters reported in November that Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine peace deal with Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists that Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.

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US Declares South Africa's Ambassador Persona Non Grata

FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
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US Declares South Africa's Ambassador Persona Non Grata

FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE - South Africa's ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday declared Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa's ambassador to the US, persona non grata, calling the envoy a "race-baiting politician" who hates America and President Donald Trump.
"South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country," Rubio said in a post on social media platform X. "We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA," Rubio said.
Rasool presented his credentials to then-President Joe Biden on January 13, a week before Trump took office, marking the start of the envoy's tenure, according to the South African embassy's website. It said this was Rasool's second stint in Washington.
The US State Department and South Africa's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, posted on X that the government "will engage through the diplomatic channel."
Ties between the United States and South Africa have deteriorated since Trump cut US financial aid to the country, citing disapproval of its land policy and of its genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Washington's ally Israel.
Trump has said, without citing evidence, that "South Africa is confiscating land" and that "certain classes of people" are being treated "very badly."
South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to Trump, has said white South Africans have been the victims of "racist ownership laws."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill in January aimed at making it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, in some cases without compensating the owner.
Ramaphosa has defended the policy and said the government had not confiscated any land. The policy was aimed at evening out racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation, he said.