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.



Azerbaijan Says Armenia Fired on It, Yerevan Denies the Claim

A view through a car window shows a damaged entrance sign of Stepanakert city, known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan, following a military operation conducted by Azeri armed forces and a further mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023. (Reuters)
A view through a car window shows a damaged entrance sign of Stepanakert city, known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan, following a military operation conducted by Azeri armed forces and a further mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023. (Reuters)
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Azerbaijan Says Armenia Fired on It, Yerevan Denies the Claim

A view through a car window shows a damaged entrance sign of Stepanakert city, known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan, following a military operation conducted by Azeri armed forces and a further mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023. (Reuters)
A view through a car window shows a damaged entrance sign of Stepanakert city, known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan, following a military operation conducted by Azeri armed forces and a further mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023. (Reuters)

Azerbaijan on Sunday accused Armenian forces of shooting at Azerbaijani positions from the southern Syunik province of Armenia, a claim Yerevan dismissed as untrue.

Azerbaijan's defense ministry said in a statement that Armenian forces had opened fire with small arms on Sunday morning from the Goris area. It gave no further details.

Armenia's defense ministry said the statement from Azerbaijan was untrue.

Reuters was unable to immediately verify the situation in the area.

Baku and Yerevan said on Thursday that they had agreed the text of a peace agreement to end nearly four decades of conflict between the South Caucasus countries, a sudden breakthrough in a fitful and often bitter peace process.