Putin Ready to Provide Transcript of Trump-Lavrov Talks to U.S. Congress

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, stated that his country is prepared to provide the transcript of last week's dialogue between Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, and Donald Trump, the President of the United States, to the U.S. Congress if the U.S. government agrees. On Wednesday, May 17, during a joint press conference with Paolo Gentiloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, Putin said, "We are ready to provide the transcript of the talks to the Congress and Senate of this country if the U.S. government agrees." The Russian President denied the leak of "classified information" by the U.S. President to his country's Foreign Minister and sarcastically remarked, "I should reprimand Lavrov for not passing this classified information to me or our intelligence services." Putin described the controversy surrounding the "leak of classified information" from Donald Trump to Sergei Lavrov as insignificant and added that he believes the United States is experiencing a period of "political disintegration." Earlier, some American media reported that Donald Trump had shared "very classified information" with the Russian Foreign Minister during their recent meeting. However, the White House denied these reports. Donald Trump also tweeted that he had discussed "facts related to terrorism and airline security" during his meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister. Trump emphasized that as President, he has the "absolute right" to discuss these issues. Some media outlets reported that this information was provided to the U.S. by Israel and related to operations of the Islamic State (ISIS). In this context, the U.S. National Security Advisor stated that Trump's conversation with the Russians was entirely appropriate. The source of information that Trump disclosed to Russia was identified as Israel.