Russia Responds to Donald Trump's Alleged Threat to Strike Moscow

The Kremlin has refused to publish details of "high-level conversations" between top officials, a spokesperson said after Donald Trump said he had threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with a strike on his capital if Moscow invaded Ukraine.

Trump, the Republican candidate for elections now just two weeks away, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Friday that he had warned Putin—with whom he said he had a "great relationship"—not to go to war in Ukraine or he would "hit" Moscow.

"I said, 'Vladimir, 'if you go after Ukraine, I am going to hit you so hard, you're not even going to believe it. I'm going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow,'" Trump purportedly said.

"I said, 'We're friends. I don't want to do it, but I have no choice.' He goes, 'No way.' I said, 'Way.'"

Donald Trump (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. The former president told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Friday that he had warned Putin not... AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

The former president did not elaborate on when the alleged conversation took place.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump and to the Kremlin for comment.

"We still prefer to state a very responsible position in terms of not making public the content of conversations that are conducted at the highest level," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to Russian state media reports.

"Unfortunately, a number of world leaders do not adhere to this position and do not observe such information 'hygiene' in this case. Well, it's on their conscience," Peskov told reporters, according to Russian state outlet RBC.

Trump has repeatedly said he has a close relationship with the Russian leader, and that should he be reelected, he would be able to end the war in Ukraine in a matter of hours.

The former president met with Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, in New York late last month, hailing what Trump called a "very good relationship," while also emphasizing his positive relations with the Kremlin.

Trump has said he wants a quick resolution to the conflict, but has on several occasions refused to specify that he hopes for a Ukrainian victory.

It has been more than two and a half years since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of its western neighbor, with little end currently in sight. The war effort, believed now to have racked up at least 1 million combined casualties.

According to an index sourced from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Moscow's highest number of lost military personnel in one day was on May 12, when 1,740 men were reportedly killed.

The total of lost Russian military personnel has now reached 675,800, according to the data.