Why Is WaPo Reporting A Trump-Putin Call That Did Not Take Place?

Trump talked to Putin, told Russian leader not to escalate in Ukraine – Washington Post, Nov 10 2024
President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and discussed the war in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the call.

President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, the first phone conversation between the two men since Trump won the election, said several people familiar with the matter.

During the call, which Trump took from his resort in Florida, he advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe, said a person familiar with the call, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Ukraine’s government, says WaPo, was informed of the call.

The Kremlin denies that any such phone call and talk has taken place:

Kremlin denies call between Putin and Trump – AFP/MSN, Nov 11 2024
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed reports of a conversation, calling it “completely false information.”

The Kremlin on Monday denied a US media report that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US president-elect Donald Trump shared a call about the Ukraine conflict.
…
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the report was “simply false information”, denying any phone call took place.
…
Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, did not confirm the exchange, telling AFP in a written statement that “we do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders.”

I have failed to find the original quote by Peskov but trust – The full Peskov quote, via RIA Novosti (in Russian), confirms – that the AFP has got it right (machine translation):

“This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is now published sometimes even in fairly reputable publications. This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction. This is just false information,” he told reporters, answering a corresponding question.

Ukraine likewise denies any knowledge of a call:

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that reports Kyiv was informed in advance of a phone call between U.S. President- elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were false.

The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Trump and Putin spoke by phone on Thursday and discussed the war in Ukraine. It said Kyiv was informed of the call and did not object to the conversation taking place.

“Reports that the Ukrainian side was informed in advance of the alleged call are false. Subsequently, Ukraine could not have endorsed or opposed the call,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters.

According to the Washington Post the alleged phone call took place on Thursday, November 7. That very same day Putin was giving a talk at the Valdai Discussion Club. During the discussion Putin asserted that he had yet to talk with Donald Trump:

Putin confirmed he had yet to talk with Trump in the wake of his victory — but indicated that he’d pick up the phone if the U.S. president-elect called.

Explaining that he hasn’t phoned Trump himself “because the leaders of Western countries were calling me almost every week at some point, and then suddenly they stopped,” Putin added: “If any of them wants to resume contact, I have always said and I want to say again: we have nothing against it.”

Asked whether he was prepared to hold discussions with Trump, even before he’s inaugurated, Putin said his administration is “ready, ready.”

I doubt that the Trump campaign was listening live to Putin and picked up the phone to call him on that very same day. I thus believe the Kremlin spokesman – i.e no call has taken place – and regard the Washington Post report as a hoax.

The Washington Post sourcing – “a person familiar with the call” – is extremely vague. The authors of the piece are Ellen Nakashima, John Hudson and Josh Dawsey.

Ellen Nakashima is known for ‘reporting’ this or that nonsense about ‘Russigate’ for which she and others received a Pulitzer Price. We today know that the alleged Russian influence in the 2016 election has been a hoax that has been thoroughly debunked.

This then leaves us with questions:

• Who has told Nakashima that a phonecall between Trump and Putin has taken place?
• What was the purpose of making such a claim?

I currently fail to come up with satisfactory answers to those questions.

I do believe though that the motive is related to this part of the Post‘s report:

[Trump] “reminded him of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe“

Sorry, but the U.S. presence in Europe, currently some 50,000 soldiers, of whom, at most, some 5,000-7,500 are proper frontline troops, is not something that will make the Kremlin tremble.

So:

• Who would want to put the presence of U.S. troops in Europe into a discussion about Ukraine?
• For what purpose?

Please let me know your answers to those questions.