Moscow considers the disclosure of any transcript of telephone conversations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to require mutual agreement from both sides, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
“Such requests - all the processes currently under way [on this issue] in the US are undoubtedly an internal matter. Our policy is not to interfere, and we have no right to interfere. As far as the transcripts of the conversations are concerned, of course, such a publication would be possible only by mutual agreement from both sides,” Peskov said.
According to the spokesman, if the US side gives the necessary signals, Russia would be prepared to discuss the matter. At the same time, Peskov pointed out that “in general, diplomatic practice does not allow such publications.”
Democrats Want More Trump Transcripts
On Sunday, US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told US media that following the release of the transcript of Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, House Democrats would be looking “to see whether in the conversations with other world leaders – and in particular with Putin – that the president was also undermining our security in a way that he thought would personally benefit his campaign.”
On Monday, Trump attacked Schiff via Twitter, asking whether the congressman should be arrested for treason over his “fictitious account” of the Zelensky phone call.
Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 30 сентября 2019 г.
House Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry against Trump last week, alleging that the president had engaged in misconduct in his conversation with Zelensky. Specifically, Democrats accuse Trump of trying to pressure Ukraine’s president to reopen a criminal investigation against Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, over the former’s alleged shady dealings with an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Lawmakers claim Trump threatened to withhold military aid Ukraine unless the investigation was restarted, and suggest that this constituted a direct attempt to involve foreign leaders in an attempt to ‘get dirt’ on Biden, Trump’s potential opponent in the 2020 race.
Trump and his supporters have rejected the claims, releasing a transcript of the July phone conversation, and saying it showed that there was no quid pro quo involved. Trump accused Joe Biden of being the one to have asked for, and gotten, a quid pro quo from Kiev, pointing to the fact that Ukrainian authorities shut down the probe against Hunter Biden, and fired the country's prosecutor, allegedly under pressure from the vice president.
