Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday denied a White House report he and President Donald Trump had warned him, during their Oval Office sit-down meeting, against any Russian interruptions of U.S. elections.
"We haven't even actually discussed elections," the diplomat told reporters at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., after the meeting, reports The Hill.
However, in a White House readout after the meeting, it was reported Trump warned Lavrov against "any Russian attempts to interfere in United States elections" and urged Moscow to "resolve the conflict with Ukraine," in a reference to Russia's seizure of the Crimea Peninsula in Ukraine in 2014.
The meeting, marking Lavrov's first official visit to Washington since 2017, was closed to the press. It was the second time the diplomat has met with Trump in the Oval Office.
Earlier Tuesday, Lavrov and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also met, with Pompeo reporting later he had also warned the Russian diplomat that election interference is "unacceptable" and the United States is ready to respond if that happens in the 2020 election.
Moscow officials have continued to deny Russian interference in the 2016 election, while the U.S. intelligence community and former special counsel Robert Mueller said it happened.
Trump also has cast doubts about Russian meddling, and in June, when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he joked about the topic when reporters asked him if he would warn the Russian leader against interfering.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.