Kremlin Had No Contacts Regarding Construction of Trump Tower in Moscow: Peskov
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The Kremlin was not engaged in any discussions regarding the potential construction of a Trump Tower skyscraper in Moscow, even though it received several emails regarding the matter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated.
"The Kremlin had absolutely no contacts regarding the construction of this tower. I think I have shown these emails to you, you saw and read them. There was nothing except them. We could not know, who [in the United States] was in charge of the matter, whether it was Trump or someone else [from his team]. The Americans and the US president himself know this better", Peskov told reporters, asked whether the Kremlin had contacts with Trump’s team about the Trump Tower project in Moscow.
The statement comes after the Buzz Feed News media outlet reported last week, citing unnamed law enforcement officials that US President Donald Trump personally instructed his then-attorney Michael Cohen to lie to the US Congress about the timing of the talks related to the Trump Tower project in Moscow, Sputnik reported.
Cohen reportedly said that the talks had come to an end in January 2016, while the negotiations were allegedly underway at least in the middle of 2016, the height of the presidential campaign. On 19 January, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller said in a statement that Buzz Feed News' claims "were not accurate".
The unusual situation is complicated by the fact that the US has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia due to alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election with Robert Mueller investigating those claims, as well as allegations of collusion between Trump's campaign team and Moscow.
Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in the election, saying the allegations were made up to excuse the defeat of Trump's campaign opponent as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of electoral fraud and corruption.
