Kremlin: Letter from Trump to Putin delivered

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‍Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that a letter from US President Donald Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin had been delivered through diplomatic channels, the Interfax news agency reported.

Peskov was commenting after US Republican Senator Rand Paul said he had delivered such a letter during a trip to Moscow.

Peskov said the Kremlin had not yet familiarized itself with the letter’s contents.

Three weeks after Trump was widely condemned for not standing up to Putin at their Helsinki summit, Paul, one of the few Republicans to defend Trump's performance at the July 16 news conference with Putin, said he had traveled to Moscow to encourage diplomacy.

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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands ahead a meeting in Helsinki, Aug. 6, 2018. /VCG Photo

The senator said on Wednesday the letter from Trump had offered US cooperation in various areas.

"I was honored to deliver a letter from President Trump to President Vladimir Putin’s administration. The letter emphasized the importance of further engagement in various areas including countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue and resuming cultural exchanges," Paul wrote in a Twitter post.

The White House said the Republican president had provided Paul with a "letter of introduction" for his trip at the senator's request.

“In the letter, the president mentioned topics of interest that Senator Paul wanted to discuss with President Putin,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

Trump has sought to ease tensions between the former Cold War foes despite friction in the relationship that was exacerbated by US intelligence findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, trying to tilt the outcome to Trump.

Republican US Senator Rand Paul during a meeting in Moscow, August 6, 2018. /VCG Photo

Trump sparked outrage by largely accepting Putin's word over that of his intelligence agencies at the Helsinki news conference.

The president later corrected some of his remarks, saying he misspoke.

Paul, a member of the party's conservative wing who frequently takes antiwar positions, on Monday invited Russian lawmakers to visit Washington to discuss nuclear nonproliferation and terrorism. He also held talks in Moscow with parliamentarians and pledged to block new sanctions against Russia.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters