You're reading: Moscow willing to publicize Putin-Barroso conversation if latter does not object to it within two days – diplomat

MOSCOW - Moscow is ready to publicize the transcript and an audio recording of a recent conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and outgoing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to eliminate any misunderstandings regarding Western media's reports on its essence, says Russian Permanent Envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov.

“It is known to me that the Russian presidential secretariat has both a written transcript and an audio record of the said telephone conversation and, to eliminate misunderstandings, is ready to fully publicize its contents if you do not let us know of your objections to this within the next two days,” Chizhov said in a letter to Barroso shared with Interfax.

La Repubblica quoted Barroso as saying that when he asked Putin about Russian troops that had crossed the Ukrainian border, the Russian leader started uttering threats. “In fact, this is not what the problem is. If I want, I’ll take Kyiv in two weeks,” Barroso reportedly quoted Putin as saying, according to the Italian newspaper.