US President-elect Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin (Source: AP Photos)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday an unsubstantiated report that alleged Russia had gathered compromising material on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was a hoax. Putin, who reiterated he had never met Trump, said he hoped that Moscow and Washington could eventually get their troubled relations back to normal. “Does anyone think that our special services chase every American billionaire? Of course not, it’s just completely ridiculous.” Putin also questioned why Trump would feel the need to hire prostitutes, given his opportunities to meet beautiful women at the Miss Universe contest. “He’s a grown-up for a start and secondly a man who spent his whole life organising beauty contests and meeting the most beautiful women in the world,” Putin said.
“I can hardly imagine that he ran off to a hotel to meet our girls of ‘lowered social responsibility’,” said Putin, adding jokingly “although they are of course the best in the “I doubt Trump fell for that.” Putin went on to compare those behind the dossier unfavourably with prostitutes. “The people who order falsifications of the kind that are now circulating against the US president-elect — they are worse than prostitutes, they don’t have any moral limits at all.
Putin’s comments come days after President-elect Donald Trump had claimed that US intelligence agencies might have leaked details about a classified briefing with him that included unsubstantiated allegations that Russia had collected compromising sexual and financial information about him. He said, “It’s all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen.” “I think it’s pretty sad when intelligence reports get leaked out to the press.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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