Report: Despite denials, Trump national security advisor did discuss sanctions with Russia

One of Donald Trump’s senior military advisers did indeed speak with Russia’s US ambassador about sanctions on Moscow before the new president took office, despite denying having done so, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

Quoting unnamed US officials, the paper said that the FBI is continuing to examine communications between Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general who is Trump’s national security adviser, and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.

While Flynn twice denied Wednesday that he had ever discussed sanctions with Kislyak, by Thursday his spokesperson walked back the denial.

Flynn “indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up,” his spokesman said.

In December, then-president Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for Russia’s hacking of American political sites and email accounts ahead of the November election.

According to nine senior intelligence and law enforcement officials who spoke with the Post on condition of anonymity, Flynn told Russia not to overreact to the sanctions. He implied that the Trump administration would review the matter.

One former official said that “Kislyak was left with the impression that the sanctions would be revisited at a later time.”

Officials stressed that while Flynn did discuss the sanctions with Kislyak, there was no evidence of an explicit promise to revoke the sanctions after the president took office.

Last month, Trump suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that if Russia helps the US on key goals such as fighting violent extremists, he may scrap the punitive measures altogether.

Flynn has raised eyebrows for receiving payment from the Russian broadcaster RT to join a gala celebration in Moscow last year, where he sat at a banquet table with President Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer has said Flynn had spoken with the envoy on Christmas Day, sending him a text to wish him a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

The national security adviser is not formally part of the cabinet but is usually one of the president’s most influential counsels.

Flynn, a veteran of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has courted controversy with extreme statements that critics say border on Islamophobia, but has taken a more flexible line on Russia and China.

AFP contributed to this report.