The Kremlin said it hopes the contents of President Trump’s calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin are kept private after the White House disclosed a conversation between Trump and the leader of Ukraine.
“We would like to hope that we would not see such situations in our bilateral relations, which already have plenty of quite serious problems,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday.
Peskov said the conversations between world leaders were classified and called it “quite unusual” for the White House to disclose the contents of such a call. He added that situations would be treated on a case-by-case basis if the Kremlin were asked to agree to the release of a call between Trump and Putin.
“No one has turned to us with such requests,” he said.
Trump’s relationship with Putin has been under constant scrutiny by Democrats since the 2016 presidential campaign. The two have had 11 conversations over the phone in the past three years, according to the Kremlin.
But it was Trump’s July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that prompted Democrats to move on possible impeachment, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing Tuesday that they’d begin a formal impeachment inquiry.
A transcript of the call was released earlier this week by the White House, which showed Trump urging Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Biden is seen as a likely contender to face off against Trump in the 2020 general election.
The call, among other incidents involving Ukraine, led a whistleblower to file a complaint.
