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Comments made in the heat of the US election campaign shouldn’t be taken too seriously, the Russian president has said
Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to a claim by his former US counterpart, Donald Trump, that he had threatened him with a strike against Moscow, saying that he “doesn’t remember” such a conversation.
Putin added that such comments are normal election campaign talk in the US. He made his remarks at press conference following the conclusion of the BRICS Summit in Kazan on Thursday. Asked whether Trump’s claims in a recent interview were true, the president replied that the idea of trying to threaten Russia is counterproductive.
“I don’t remember such a conversation with Mr. Trump,” the Russian president said. “The US presidential campaign is currently at such a heated a stage, I would suggest not to take anyone’s statements too seriously.”
Addressing the alleged threat on principle, Putin said it was “pointless to threaten Russia, since this only emboldens us.”
Earlier this week, in a meeting with Wall Street Journal editors, Trump told a story about a conversation he allegedly had with Putin at some point during his presidency. According to Trump, he told Putin that if Russia went “after Ukraine,” the US would “hit you so hard” and “right in the middle” of Moscow.
When Putin purportedly voiced his disbelief, Trump claimed to have said, “You’re going to be hit so hard, and I’m going to take those f**king domes right off your head.” The US politician apparently confused the Kremlin with the nearby St. Basil’s Cathedral.
READ MORE: Threatening Russia only emboldens us – Putin
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the current Russia-Ukraine conflict would not have happened had he stayed in office after 2020, and that he would find a way to end it within days of getting re-elected.