The Kremlin confirms Trump sent Russia Covid-19 tests after the former president dismissed Bob Woodward's claim

CNN
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Russia has confirmed that Donald Trump sent Covid-19 test samples to the Kremlin in the early days of the pandemic, after revelations in veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book raise further questions about the former US president's relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin had raised.

The Trump administration “sent us several samples of testing kits,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday, largely supporting Woodward's claim. His intervention comes after Trump dismissed the claims and told ABC News they were “false.”

Legendary reporter Woodward wrote in “War” that Trump “secretly sent Putin a bunch of Abbott Point of Care Covid testing machines for his personal use.”

“Please don’t tell anyone you sent these to me,” Putin told Trump, according to Woodward. “I don’t care,” Trump replied. “Fine.”

“No, no,” Putin said. “I don’t want you to tell anyone because then people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.”

Peskov did not confirm whether these tests were specifically intended for Putin's own purposes, as Woodward writes.

The Kremlin press secretary said: “At that time the pandemic began and the situation was very difficult for all countries.

“Of course, all countries initially tried to exchange aid with each other,” he continued. “At that time, we sent a shipment of ventilators to the US, and the Americans sent us several samples of test kits because they were practically one-offs. Many countries did the same.”

The Kremlin's response appears to be at odds with Trump's denial of Woodward's claims.

“He is a storyteller. A bad thing. And he lost his mind,” Trump told ABC News of Woodward on Tuesday. In a statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump gave Woodward “absolutely no access” to the book. “None of these made-up Bob Woodward stories are true,” he said.

Citing a Trump aide, Woodward also reported that there have been “perhaps as many as seven” telephone conversations between Trump and Putin since Trump left the White House in 2021. Peskov dismissed these claims, saying: “This is not true; “It didn't happen.” Trump also denied these claims to ABC News.

The hectic first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a diplomatic opening for Putin; Trump's White House was criticized at the time for buying medical supplies from Moscow, a move experts called a propaganda victory for the Kremlin.

The Trump administration also spent $200 million to send thousands of ventilators around the world. This began weeks after the former president touted America as the “king of ventilators,” but there was no established way to locate them, the Government Accountability Office found in a report. Russia was among the countries that received these ventilators.

Woodward's claims put Trump's relationship with Putin under renewed scrutiny weeks before the US presidential election.

They were quickly seized upon by Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris, who said in an interview with Howard Stern, “People were dying by the hundreds.” Everyone was eager to get these (testing) kits… and this guy, the President of the United States States was sending them to Russia? To a murderous dictator, for his personal use?”

“They’re being played,” Harris said of Trump.

Trump, for his part, has continued to speak fondly of his relationship with Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made him a pariah among Western leaders.

“I got on well with him. I hope to get along well with him,” Trump said during an interview on X with billionaire Elon Musk. Trump added that getting along well with strong world figures was “a good thing.”