The Kremlin on Sunday posted a readout of a thank-you call from President Vladimir Putin of Russia to U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to the readout, Putin thanked Trump for information — “transmitted through the channels of U.S. special services” — that “helped thwart terrorist acts in Russia.”
The readout noted that the two presidents also discussed issues of mutual interest, agreeing to “continue bilateral cooperation in combating terrorism.” The Russian government news agency Tass, citing a spokesman from the FSB intelligence agency, reported that two Russian nationals were plotting terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg over the New Year holiday, but that they were detained thanks to the information shared by the U.S.
The White House has not released a statement on the call, and reporters traveling with Trump in Florida asked for more information on Sunday.
The Kremlin’s readout is not the first time Russia has put out call statements ahead of the White House, even if the statements don’t fully reflect what was said.
In August, the Kremlin said in a statement that Trump offered Putin help in fighting vast wildfires in Siberia. The phone conversation had taken place on the “initiative of the American side,” the Kremlin added. The White House later confirmed the two leaders’ conversation.
And in 2017, photos from Trump‘s first Oval Office meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia surfaced online from the Kremlin. The meeting had been closed to the American press.
Lavrov had another a closed-door, Oval Office meeting with Trump earlier this month — on the day House Democrats unveiled articles of impeachment. Afterward, Trump praised the “very good meeting“ in a tweet, saying the two had discussed “election meddling.“ But at a news conference at the Russian Embassy, Lavrov wouldn‘t answer that claim directly, suggesting only that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had raised the issue during a separate meeting.