- Title: Putin calls report which said Russia had damaging details on Trump a hoax
- Date: 17th January 2017
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JANUARY 17, 2017) (RUSSIAN POOL) NEWS CONFERENCE BY RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AND MOLDOVA PRESIDENT IGOR DODON IN PROGRESS JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "We witness a continuing fierce political in-fighting despite the fact that the presidential election is over and that it ended with the convincing victory of Mr. Trump. Nevertheless there are several goal set in this fight, may be they are more but some are obvious. The first one is to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. President-elect. And I want to stress that people who do that - whether intentionally or not - they harm the interests of the United States significantly." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "I do not know Mr. Trump, I have never met him. I do not know what he will do on the international scene. So I have no grounds for attacking him, criticising him for something or protecting him in any way. We won't even appeal to the Noble prize committee for him to be awarded with a Noble prize in mathematics, physics or any other subject. I have no grounds for doing so." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "These spread of false stories is an obvious hoax. Trump, when he came to Moscow - and I can't even remember when that was, several years ago - he wasn't any sort of political figure. We didn't even know about his political ambitions. (OVER NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS) He was just a businessman, one of America's rich people. What, someone thinks that our special services chase after every (BACK TO PUTIN) American billionaire? Of course not, that's total nonsense." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "Trump arrived and straight away rushed to meet with Moscow prostitutes. This is an adult man first of all and, apart from that, is a man (OVER NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS) who for many years took part in organising beauty contests. He has socialised with the most beautiful women in the world. (BACK TO PUTIN) I find it difficult to believe that he ran to a hotel to meet with our girls of reduced social responsibility. Although here also we have the best ones in the world." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "People who order hoaxes of that kind that are now spread against the U.S. President-elect, who fake them and use them in political struggle are worse than prostitutes. They have no moral limitations!" NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "I am sure at the end we will manage to establish normal inter-state relations answering the interests of the people of Europe, the people of Russia as well as the people of the United States. The relations that would assist development of global economy, stability and security in the world." PUTIN AND DODON LEAVING
- Embargoed: 31st January 2017 15:07
- Keywords: Vladimir Putin Russia United States Donald Trump Barack Obama
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0015ZGY72F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday (January 17) an unsubstantiated report that alleged Russia had gathered compromising material on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was a hoax.
The Russian leader was responding to unverified claims in a dossier published last week that Russian intelligence operatives had compromising information on Trump, including that he had met with Moscow prostitutes on a visit to Moscow several years ago.
Putin doubted that U.S. President-elect had met with prostitutes because he said Trump had met with the most beautiful women in the world.
"Trump arrived and straight away rushed to meet with Moscow prostitutes. This is an adult man first of all and, apart from that, is a man who for many years took part in organising beauty contests. He has socialised with the most beautiful women in the world," Putin said.
"I find it difficult to believe that he ran to a hotel to meet with our girls of reduced social responsibility. Although here also we have the best ones in the world," he said at a news conference in Moscow with Moldova's President Igor Dodon.
Putin said it was "total nonsense" that Russian intelligence had followed Trump to gather compromising material on him and reiterated that he had never met Trump.
"Trump, when he came to Moscow - and I can't even remember when that was, several years ago - he wasn't any sort of political figure. We didn't even know about his political ambitions," Putin said.
"What, someone thinks that the special services chase after every American billionaire? Of course not, that's total nonsense."
Putin also said he hoped that Moscow and Washington could eventually get their troubled relations back to normal. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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