 "'Unacceptable': Russia condemns leak of Trump-Putin adviser calls as 'hybrid warfare'")
Russia on Wednesday denounced the leak of a recording of a phone call between top advisers to US President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin, calling it an unacceptable attempt to undermine Ukraine peace negotiations and labeling it “hybrid warfare.”
The transcript, published by Bloomberg News, covers an October 14 conversation in which Trump envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly advised Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov on how to present a Ukraine peace plan to Trump.
Bloomberg said it had reviewed the recording but did not disclose how it obtained access to the highly sensitive discussion between officials from the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Ushakov said that his conversations with Witkoff were not meant for public release and should not have been leaked.
“This is unacceptable,” Reuters quoted Ushakov as tellingRussian media.
He said the leak was clearly aimed at hindering discussions between Russia and the United States.
In an interview with Kommersant newspaper, Ushakov said that some of his discussions were conducted through encrypted government channels, “which are rarely intercepted and leaked unless one of the parties deliberately intends to do so.”
“There are certain conversations on WhatsApp that, generally speaking, someone might somehow be able to listen to,” Ushakov added.
He dismissed the possibility that the leak originated from participants in the call and said he planned to raise the matter with Witkoff.
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View AllRussian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev, a Putin investment envoy, called Bloomberg’s report on an October 29 call between him and Ushakov “fake.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said some media organisations were being used as part of a hybrid information war waged by European countries against Russia, aimed at undermining ties with Washington.
Kommersant’s top Kremlin reporter, who interviewed Ushakov, headlined the story: “Who set up Steve Witkoff?”
With inputs from agencies
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