Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow could provide a recording of the exchange between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US President Donald Trump, who is accused of sharing classified intelligence.
“If the US administration finds it possible, we are ready to provide a recording of the conversation between Lavrov and Trump to the US Congress and Senate,” Mr Putin said during a press conference.” The Telegraph reports
Mr Putin also described US politicians whipping up “anti-Russian sentiment” as either “stupid” or “dangerous”.
The comments come after potentially explosive reports on Tuesday night that Donald Trump asked James Comey, the former FBI director, to end an investigation into Michael Flynn’s links to Russia.
“I hope you can let this go,” Mr Trump reportedly told Mr Comey, the day after Mr Flynn, the former national security adviser, had resigned over his undeclared contacts with Moscow.
The New York Times cited a memo that Mr Comey wrote shortly after the meeting with the US president in early February. Mr Trump fired Mr Comey, who was leading the investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia, last week.
If confirmed, it would be evidence that the US president had directly tried to influence the FBI investigation.
Israeli officials are seeking to downplay any damage caused by President Donald Trump’s disclosure of classified information to senior Russian officials that was reportedly provided by Israel, and lauded the robust security cooperation with the United States just days before the president is due to arrive for a state visit.
Despite fears that the leak could endanger a valuable Israeli intelligence asset within the Islamic State group, officials stressed that nothing would change as a result of the extraordinary breach.
“The security relationship between Israel and our great ally the United States is deep, meaningful and unprecedented in its scope and contribution to our strength,” Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted. “That is how it has been and that is how it will continue to be.”
Israel has yet to acknowledge claims from US officials that it was the source of the highly classified information about an Islamic State plot that Trump divulged to Russian diplomats.
Trump appears to have shared the information without Israel’s consent, which would mark a severe violation of the confidentiality of their intelligence-sharing agreement.
Even more remarkable is that Trump chose to confide in representatives of an adversary, who could relay the information to its allies Iran and Syria, bitter enemies of Israel, and potentially find the source.
Trump is due to arrive in Israel next week as part of his first overseas trip as president. Israel has looked to Trump as a close ally but there has been growing apprehension over his unpredictability.