Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Artemenko says that at a January dinner meeting with Donald Trump‘s personal attorney Michael Cohen, the two discussed an outside-the-box proposal for peace between Russia and Ukraine following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, CNN reported. According to Artemenko, Cohen was on board with the plan, and offered to deliver it to then National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Cohen told the cable network this is completely false.
Artemenko indicated that the deal may involve Ukraine leasing the territory to Russia, and that Russia would remove military forces from eastern Ukraine in exchange.
Cohen said in a statement to LawNewz.com:
If this continued fake news narrative wasn’t so ridiculous, I would be angered. Despite the multitude of statements issued denying any nexis between Presidents Trump and Putin, the main stream media just keeps on trying to perpetuate this lie. I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place, but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn.
A White House spokesman told CNN, “No one in the White House — including the President, Vice President and senior members of the NSC — has spoken to Mr. Cohen about any Russia-Ukraine peace proposal,” and “we have no record of receiving any proposal from Mr. Cohen.”
This flies in the face of Artemenko’s claim, as well as a New York Times report that Cohen hand delivered the peace proposals to Flynn’s office.
Regardless, both Russia and Ukraine rejected the plan, and Artemenko, a member of Ukrainian Parliament, is now the subject of a treason investigation for suggesting it in the first place.
[Image via Fox News screengrab]
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