State Duma calls report on possibility of Trump's secret deal with Ukraine a provocation

Reports that US President-elect Donald Trump may secretly hand over nuclear weapons to Ukraine are a provocation before his assumption of office. Mikhail Sheremet, a member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Countering Corruption, said on November 20.

"This is all a provocation in order for Donald Trump to fail to fulfill his campaign promises that he made to the Americans and the entire international community, and to complicate as much as possible the process that is called peace agreements," Duma TV for Izvestia quoted the deputy's comment as saying.

Sheremet noted that this is yet another provocation aimed at making sure that before Trump assumes the presidency, he "will have broken some wood that will be very difficult for him to clean up."

Earlier in the day, Britain's Daily Express reported that Trump may secretly hand over nuclear weapons to Ukraine. The deal between him and Kiev could be done very secretly, noted security and defense expert Nicholas Drummond in a conversation with the tabloid.

The day before, on November 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the updated nuclear doctrine of the state. The updated document includes the amendments that the head of state announced in September. In particular, for the first time a definition of a potential adversary against whom the Russian Federation is conducting nuclear deterrence is introduced.

Before that, on November 15, Trump promised to "work very hard" to end the Ukrainian conflict at the November 14 gala of the Institute of Politics "America First" in the residence of Mar-a-Lago (Florida). It was his first public appearance since winning the election.

The election for the 47th president of the United States was held on November 5. In the national vote, Trump received 51% of the vote, while Democratic candidate Kamala Harris received 47.4%. The results were met with prolonged applause at the campaign headquarters of the president-elect. Speaking before supporters, the Republican said that his goal as head of state considers the end of military conflicts in the world.