RT | Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is ready to provide
records of the recent meeting between US leader Donald Trump and Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, to dispel the "political schizophrenia"
around the allegations that state secrets were leaked.
"If
the US administration deems it possible, we are ready to provide the
Senate and Congress with the transcript of the conversation between
Lavrov and Trump," Putin said at a press conference, following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday.
It comes after the Washington Post claimed that Trump had “revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister [Sergey Lavrov] and ambassador in a White House meeting” on May 10.
Trump maintains that the data he shared with Lavrov concerned flight safety and terrorism, and that he had the "absolute right" to provide the information at an openly scheduled White House meeting.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova issued a mocking response to the claims, posting on Facebook:
“Have you guys been reading American newspapers again? Don’t read them.
They can be used in many different ways, but one shouldn’t read them –
recently it has become not only harmful, but dangerous.”
"We are seeing in the US a developing political schizophrenia," Putin said.
"There is no other way I can explain the accusations against the acting US president that he gave away some secrets to Lavrov."
Those who "are
destabilizing the internal US political situation using anti-Russian
slogans either don't understand that they are bringing this nonsense in
on their own side, and then they are just stupid, or else they
understand everything, and then they are dangerous and corrupt people," Putin said.
"Anyway, this is a US matter, and we don't want and don't plan to interfere," the Russian president said.
Putin
promptly followed his statements about the Trump-Lavrov meeting by
saying he did share some secrets with the Italian prime minister.
"As for the message I delivered to Mr. Prime Minister, it is of a secret nature, I cannot tell you about it," Putin said with a smile.
While
much discussed by the media, the alleged state secret leaks appear not
to have damaged Washington's overseas alliances. UK Prime Minister
Theresa May has vowed to continue sharing intelligence data with the US.
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