Kremlin says no contact between Putin and Trump planned

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been in touch with and does not plan to communicate with Donald Trump following the recent assassination attempt on the former US president, the Kremlin said on Monday.

“No, he (Trump) has not been contacted, and no contacts are planned,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing in Moscow.

Peskov also said Russian authorities condemned the attack and opposed any manifestations of violence in politics.

Trump was shot at during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by the Secret Service at the venue.

Asked if security measures for Putin had been strengthened following recent incidents, including the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Peskov said security was “understandably enhanced regardless of the incidents mentioned.”

“The security of the head of state is ensured at the proper level, and everything necessary is being done, taking into account the general international escalation of tension,” he said.

Addressing media reports claiming that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sent proposals to EU leaders on ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, Peskov said the Kremlin is aware of Orban’s “general approaches” to the settlement but does not know “the specific content of his letter.”

“During contacts in Moscow, Mr. Orban outlined the main parameters of his vision, but we do not know what is being discussed in internal correspondence within the EU,” he added.

Orban visited Kyiv on July 2 and Moscow on July 5 with the stated goal of better understanding the positions of the warring sides to accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine, which has now continued for more than two years.