Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri Peskov, said on Monday that President Donald Trump would need the Kremlin’s permission if he ever wanted to release records of his calls with Putin.
According to the Associated Press and Reuters, Peskov told reporters the Russian government will “consider” allowing the call transcripts to be released “if we receive some signals from the U.S.”
“Of course their publication is to some extent only possible by mutual agreement of the parties,” the official said. “This is a certain diplomatic practice.”
“To be more specific, perhaps, diplomatic practice in general does not envisage their publication,” he added.
House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry against Trump have indicated they intend to examine Trump’s communications with foreign leaders after the White House released a memo on Trump’s call with Ukraine revealing he had tried to pressure the Ukrainian president to dig up dirt on Joe Biden.
CNN reported that White House officials had also restricted access to records of Trump’s calls with Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
