The Kremlin appears to have confirmed a bombshell claim that Donald Trump sent Vladimir Putin Covid testing machines at the start of the pandemic.
In his new book ‘War’, Bob Woodward, who made his name reporting on the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon, claimed that the 45th President sent the Russian despot Covid testing equipment for his “personal use”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, addressing the claims, said: “As for the tests, when the pandemic began, countries did not have enough equipment.
“And many countries then exchanged such gestures of support and sent each other shipments of various equipment they had.”
The spokesman also discussed claims that seven phone calls were made between the two men after Mr Trump left the White House in 2021.
He said: “As for the calls, that’s a lie. There were no calls, and they did not hold phone calls after Trump ceased to be president.”
The claims were made by Mr Woodward, citing an unnamed Trump aide.
It is also maintained in the book that the former KGB agent urged the US business tycoon not to publicly discuss the sending of Covid testing machines.
Woodward writes that Mr Putin told Mr Trump: “Please don’t tell anybody you sent these to me.”
The Republican president is said to have replied: “I don’t care. Fine.”
“I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me”, Putin is said to have responded.
Reports made elsewhere claim the US sent Covid equipment to Russia during the pandemic, and also received it.
“We sent a batch of artificial respiration devices, and several test devices came from America,” Peskov said. “The first testers worked very poorly.”
He went on: “It was a common practice at that time to exchange such support.”
