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 raised further questions about the former US president’s relationship with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The Trump administration “sent us several samples of test kits,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday, broadly backing Woodward’s claim. His intervention comes after Trump denied the claims, telling 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 this to me,” Putin told Trump, according to Woodward. “I don’t care,” Trump replied. “Fine.”

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

Peskov has not confirmed whether or not these tests were specifically for Putin’s own use, as Woodward writes.

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

“Of course, initially all countries tried to exchange aid shipments with each other,” he continued. “At that time, we sent a shipment of ventilators to the United States, and the Americans sent us several samples of test kits because they were almost unique items. Many countries did the same.”

The Kremlin’s response apparently contradicts Trump’s denial of Woodward’s claims.

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

Citing a Trump aide, Woodward also reported that there have been “maybe as many as seven” phone calls between Trump and Putin since Trump left the White House in 2021. Peskov denied these claims, saying: “That is not true; it didn’t happen.” Trump also denied these claims to ABC News.

The hectic first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a diplomatic opening for Putin; The Trump White House was criticized at the time for purchasing medical supplies from Moscow, a move described by experts as a propaganda victory for the Kremlin.

The Trump administration has also spent $200 million shipping thousands of ventilators around the world, starting weeks after the former president touted America as the “king of ventilators” but found without any established way to locate them the Government Accountability Office in a report. Russia was among the countries that received these ventilators.

Woodward’s claims once again cast a critical eye on Trump’s relationship with Putin, 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 trying to get these (test) kits… and this guy who was president of the United States sends them to Russia? To a murderous dictator, for his personal use?’

“You’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 along well with him. I hope to get along with him again,” Trump said during an interview on X with billionaire Elon Musk. Trump added that getting along with strongmen among world leaders “is a good thing.”