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Kremlin tight-lipped on Putin-Biden discussion of 'killer' remark

Vladimir Putin himself said earlier that Joe Biden had called him afterwards and they sorted things out

MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. The Kremlin will not disclose the details of a telephone conversation between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Joe Biden of the United States, in which they touched upon Biden's "killer" remark, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, commenting on the description of an episode in a new book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

"The issue was touched upon in one of the phone calls [between Putin and Biden]. However, we don't consider it possible to share the contents of the two president's telephone conversations with reporters beyond what we said in a media statement," Peskov pointed out.

Putin himself said earlier that Biden had called him afterwards and they sorted things out. "I was satisfied with his explanation," the Russian leader told reporters following the Geneva-hosted Russia-US summit in June.

Biden said in an interview with ABC News in March that the Russian authorities would have to "pay a price" for their alleged interference in US elections. In addition, when asked if he considered Putin to be "a killer," the US president answered in the affirmative. According to the new book by Woodward and Costa, obtained by ABC News, Biden assured Putin in an April 13 phone call that his "killer" remark had not been "something premeditated".