Russian foreign minister mocks U.S. media over intelligence-sharing reports

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday mocked U.S. news reports suggesting President Donald Trump inappropriately shared sensitive intelligence with him about terror threats involving laptops on airplanes.

Without directly confirming the details of their conversation, Lavrov said he didn’t understand what the “secret” was since the U.S. introduced a ban on laptops on airlines from some Middle Eastern countries two months ago.

He joked that some U.S. media were acting like communist newspapers in the former Soviet Union and not offering real news.

“There used to be a joke in the Soviet Union that there was a newspaper, Pravda, so called Truth, that there was no ‘izvestia’ or news in there,” Lavrov said. “Truly, I get this impression that many U.S. media are working in this vein.”

Lavrov was in Cyprus on Thursday for talks with his Cypriot counterpart.

Asked to comment on the controversy surrounding the reported intelligence-sharing, he said media have reported that “the secret” Trump told him was that “‘terrorists’ are capable of stuffing laptops, all kinds of electronic devices, with untraceable explosive materials.”

“As far as I can recall, maybe one month or two months before the Trump administration had an official ban on laptops on airlines from seven middle Eastern counties and it was connected directly with the terrorist threat,” Lavrov added. “So, if you’re talking about that, I see no secret here.”

The Washington Post reported this week that Trump shared highly classified information with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak about an Islamic State terror threat involving laptop computers on aircraft. Other outlets, including The Associated Press, later confirmed the report.

Trump responded by tweeting that as president, he had authority to disclose whatever he’d like. He did not deny discussing classified information.