Kremlin denies alleged phone calls between Putin and Trump

The Kremlin has denied reports of alleged phone calls between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US president Donald Trump after he left office in 2021.

According to Russian news agencies, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that these conversations did not take place.

US media had reported that Trump and Putin may have had several previously unknown telephone conversations and that Trump had sent coronavirus test equipment to Putin for the Russian president's personal use.

They were citing a new book titled "War" by US reporter Bob Woodward, which traces how the US administration of President Joe Biden responded to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Trump's campaign team had denied the information in the book. The former US president has been criticized for years because of his real or perceived closeness to Putin and Russia.

The topic has gained renewed significance in the run-up to the US presidential election on November 5.

Woodward rose to fame as one of the journalists who uncovered the Watergate wiretapping scandal that led to the resignation of former US president Richard Nixon in 1974.