The Kremlin on Monday reiterated denials that Moscow interfered in the 2016 US presidential election after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found conclusive evidence of Russian meddling.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists he had not seen the report but Russia’s “principled position on this matter is well known: our country has not interfered in the domestic affairs of other countries, including the United States.”
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Peskov insisted “the accusations of interference… that are still being made against Russia, we as before consider to be baseless.”
Mueller’s two-year investigation found Russia carried out a coordinated campaign of disinformation and hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s election team. The report, however, did not find that Donald Trump’s campaign team colluded with Moscow.
In Russia, pro-Kremlin lawmakers hailed the report as vindicating both Russia and Trump but were cautious on whether this would prompt a revival in relations.
The report’s findings “are a disgrace for the US and its political elite,” Senator Alexei Pushkov wrote on Twitter.
“There’s a chance to start a lot again from zero in our relations, but whether Trump will take the risk is still under question. We, of course, are ready,” Konstantin Kosachev, foreign affairs committee chair in the upper house of parliament, wrote on Facebook.
The foreign affairs chief in the lower house, Leonid Slutsky, told journalists the report’s findings “are hardly capable of changing anything immediately in the dialogue between Russia and the US,” RIA Novosti state news agency reported.
AFP
