Kremlin reveals peculiar detail about Putin-Trump call
In an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin published on Telegram on Sunday, Peskov said that Putin does not fully rely on simultaneous interpretation during such conversations, as the Russian leader is able to hear and understand the American president directly.
'The president first hears the voice of his counterpart – that is, he hears Trump's voice – and then the interpreter translates it,' Peskov explained.
He noted that Putin understands English and is capable of following the conversation before the translation begins. 'As you know, the president understands English himself, so he can immediately process some of the information,' Peskov added, noting that the exchange takes longer due to the back-and-forth nature of interpretation.
The two leaders spoke for over two hours on May 19, with the Kremlin describing the exchange as 'very useful.' The conversation followed direct peace talks held in Istanbul – the first in-person negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives since 2022, when Kiev withdrew from a proposed peace deal that had already been agreed in principle. The latest round of talks resulted in a proposal for the largest prisoner exchange to date.
According to Putin, the discussion with Trump was 'productive, substantive and quite candid,' with the primary focus on the Ukraine conflict. Speaking to reporters afterward, he said both sides had agreed that Moscow would draft a memorandum outlining the principles and timeline for a potential peace agreement. The proposed framework would also cover other matters, including 'a potential temporary ceasefire, should the necessary agreements be reached.'
Trump said the call 'went very well,' describing the tone and spirit of the conversation as 'excellent.' However, on Sunday, the US leader said he was 'not happy with what Putin's doing,' criticizing Moscow's response to a week of sustained Ukrainian drone raids as completely unwarranted.
Moscow has consistently reaffirmed its commitment to a diplomatic resolution of the conflict and welcomed Washington's involvement in advancing direct talks. Putin reiterated that Russia is ready to work with Kiev on drafting the document and emphasized that 'eliminating the root causes' of the conflict 'is what matters most to us.'
The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the surge in Ukrainian 'terrorist' drone attacks on non-military targets as a deliberate attempt by Kiev's 'party of war' to sabotage the recently renewed direct peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. Ukraine's Western backers, 'led by the UK, France, Germany, and the EU leadership,' are facilitating the attacks by supporting 'Ukrainian Nazis,' Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
an hour ago
- Russia Today
Ukraine accuses NYT of spreading ‘Russian propaganda'
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has accused the New York Times of propaganda after its reporter traveled to the part of western Russia which previously came under attack by Ukrainian troops. Kiev took issue with the July 12 story by Times journalist and photographer Nanna Heitmann, who described life in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. In August 2024, Ukrainian forces crossed Russia's internationally recognized border and captured the small city of Sudzha and dozens of villages, but were eventually expelled last April. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said at the time that the incursion was meant to acquire leverage for future peace talks. 'Whoever at Times thought it was smart to report alongside Russian war criminals made the dumbest decision. This isn't balance or 'the other side of the story.' This is simply letting Russian propaganda mislead the audience,' Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy wrote on X on Saturday. Heitmann, who said she was at times escorted by the Chechnya-based Akhmat unit, took photos of Russian soldiers patrolling the destroyed villages, clearing mines, and helping to evacuate civilians. She spoke to locals whose homes were damaged by the fighting, and visited a shelter for evacuated civilians. The journalist said she observed the bodies of civilians and soldiers, claiming that 'the uniforms visible among the fallen were mostly Russian.' 'Amid shattered homes, other bodies had lain decomposing for months, seemingly untouched, the circumstances of their deaths unknown,' Heitmann wrote. She reported that some locals criticized the government for not evacuating everyone in time, but mentioned that Russian officials denied these claims and said more than 150,000 people were evacuated from the region. Ukrainian troops allowed multiple Western news crews, including CNN, France 24, El Mundo and Deutsche Welle, to accompany them during the incursion and to report from occupied Sudzha. Moscow subsequently charged several foreign journalists with border violations. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the Western media of propaganda on Kiev's behalf and of covering up atrocities. According to Russia, Ukrainian troops massacred civilians in several villages, including Russkoye Porechnoye and Nikolayevo-Daryino.
Russia Today
2 hours ago
- Russia Today
New suspects emerge in Ukrainian plot to assassinate RT editor-in-chief
Three new suspects have emerged in a criminal investigation into an attempted assassination of RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, TASS has reported, citing court documents. The case, dating back to 2023, involved a group of Russian neo-Nazis who allegedly targeted Simonyan on orders from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). All the new suspects are underage, the news agency said, adding that the court has placed them under a restraining order. Their alleged role in the attempted assassination plot is unclear. Earlier, a Moscow court also told TASS that the pre-trial detention of other suspects in the case had been extended until October. In July 2023, Russian law enforcement announced it had thwarted a Ukrainian plan to kill Simonyan. The 'Paragraph 88' neo-Nazi group members were allegedly preparing an attack after being recruited by the SBU. The would-be assassins were caught carrying out reconnaissance in Moscow and Ryazan Region, according to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). During the operation, law enforcement seized a Kalashnikov assault rifle, 90 cartridges, rubber hoses, knives, brass knuckles, and handcuffs. The suspects then confirmed they were offered a reward of 1.5 million rubles ($20,000) for the murder, the FSB said. Simonyan expressed her 'deepest gratitude to our law enforcement officers for their work' following the operation. She also said that Kiev would have had a hard time justifying the murder of a journalist and mother of several children. Simonyan has been the editor-in-chief of RT since its founding in 2005, is married and has three children. Kiev has previously accused Simonyan of acting as a 'propagandist' and furthering 'Russian narratives' via social media and during interviews. Last year, the Ukrainian authorities launched a criminal case against her over 'propaganda of war' and 'denial of armed aggression by Russia.' In 2023, the SBU claimed she called for mass killings of Ukrainian children but failed to provide any evidence. The journalist then said that the false accusations against her were an attempt by Kiev to make a future attack on her 'appear more palatable.'
Russia Today
3 hours ago
- Russia Today
Istanbul talks format ‘exhausted itself'
The format of direct peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul has 'practically exhausted itself' due to Russia's 'maximalist' demands, Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislitsa has claimed. Russia and Ukraine have met for two rounds of direct negotiations in Türkiye this year, restarting talks that Kiev unilaterally abandoned in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin's goal for the ongoing US-backed talks is to demand Kiev's surrender in the conflict, Kislitsa said in an interview with the Kiev Independent published on Friday. 'Putin's mandate is to force capitulation. Their logic is the opposite of ours,' he said, arguing that the Russian position was worse than 'maximalist.' 'Our mandate had three points: first, ceasefire,' Kislitsa said. The second was to 'create the conditions' for a meeting between Putin and Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky, and the third included 'confidence-building measures' such as humanitarian issues such as prisoner swaps, he added. Putin has not refused such a meeting, but has argued that currently any final peace agreements signed by Zelensky would be illegitimate given that his presidential term expired in May 2024. Kislitsa insisted that a direct meeting between the leaders is necessary due to the 'complexity' and 'depth' of the conflict. He also argued that Moscow aims to 'bureaucratize' the talks. 'We saw this before in the endless Minsk process groups,' the diplomat claimed. 'Endless meetings – but there were no results.' The failed Western-backed 2014-2015 Minsk Agreements were ostensibly meant to freeze the conflict between Ukraine and the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Both former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande later admitted that the accords were a mechanism to stall for time and allow Kiev to rearm. Moscow has refused Ukrainian demands for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, arguing that such a truce would be a repeat of the Minsk Agreements. Russia has maintained that any settlement needs to be permanent, legally foolproof, and it must address the core causes of the conflict. The Kremlin has also condemned French and British initiatives to deploy peacekeeping troops and fighter jets to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, blasting them as 'militaristic.'
