Putin aide accuses WaPo of ‘truth distortion’

Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev has accused the Washington Post of “truth distortion” over a quote wrongly attributed to him, and demanded the outlet apologize.

In an article on Saturday about Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the US, the outlet suggested that a recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, shifted Washington’s stance on the Ukraine conflict.

The Washington Post cited Dmitriev as saying: “Zelensky’s tour summed up in one sentence: Putin outmaneuvered everyone again.” It claimed that Dmitriev made the remark on Telegram.

In a post on X on Saturday, Dmitriev expressed outrage that the line – which he had reposted from another news channel – was attributed to him.

“Another eye-opening case of truth distortion from the fake @washingtonpost,” he wrote. “I reposted a post from a Telegram channel – yet your article attributed those quotes to me. That’s like blaming users for retweets.”

Dmitriev demanded that the outlet correct the attribution immediately, issue an apology, and launch an internal probe.

Later in the day, the outlet issued a correction, admitting that a previous version of its article had “incorrectly attributed” the quote to Dmitriev. The presidential aide thanked the WaPo on X for acknowledging the error, but asked the paper to issue a formal apology and publish both the apology and the correction “in the next print edition.”

Trump spoke with Putin on Thursday amid renewed tensions over potential US Tomahawk deliveries to Ukraine and stalled peace talks. He later described the conversation as “so productive” that a peace deal could come soon, adding that they agreed to hold a summit in Budapest, Hungary.

The Kremlin said preparations for the Putin-Trump summit would begin immediately. Dmitriev, who also serves as Putin’s economic envoy in bilateral talks, described the call as “productive” and said it “clearly outlined future steps” for cooperation.

After the conversation, Trump appeared to back away from supplying Kiev with Tomahawks – which are capable of reaching Moscow – telling reporters the US needs the missiles for its own defense. He repeated the point at a lunch with Zelensky on Friday, warning that long-range strikes into Russia could trigger “an escalation.” Zelensky, who reportedly hoped to secure a missile deal, declined to comment.

Moscow has condemned Western weapons supplies to Ukraine, specifically warning against sending Tomahawks, arguing that this could “severely undermine” the prospects of a peaceful settlement and damage US-Russia relations.