Security adviser: Russian meddling charges indisputable

GERMANY: President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said yesterday that the US indictment against Russian nationals showed ‘‘incontrovertible’’ evidence of cyber attacks, a rebuff to Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister who dismissed the allegations as ‘‘blather.’’

H.R. McMaster told an audience at the Munich Security Conference that Russia engaged in a ‘‘sophisticated form of espionage’’ against the US in a futile attempt at disruption. He referred the indictment against Russian nationals and a St. Petersburgbased ‘‘troll farm,’’ accused of seeking to interfere in the US presidential election in 2016.

‘‘The evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain, whereas in the past it was difficult to attribute,’’ McMaster said on a panel Saturday. Russian attempts to influence politics in the U.S. and elsewhere are ‘‘just not working,’’ he said.

The federal indictment alleged a widespread and coordinated effort to influence the 2016 election in Trump’s favour. It alleged that the operation was funded by companies controlled by a Russian businessman close to the Kremlin.

Russian Foreign Minister 13 Sergei Lavrov, who went on stage in Munich just before McMaster, gave short shrift to the allegations.

‘‘Until we see the facts, everything else is blather,’’ Lavrov said. ‘‘I’m sorry for this rather undiplomatic expression.’’

To back his claim, Lavrov cited comments by Vice President Mike Pence and Jeanette Manfra, an official in the US Department of Homeland Security. Manfra ‘‘denied the reports that any country has influenced the election results,’’ Lavrov said.

On the panel, McMaster was asked by Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, whether he would agree to Russian requests for a dialogue on cybersecurity matters, ‘‘which is being rejected all the time by the American side.’’ ‘‘I’m surprised there are Russian cyber experts available,’’ McMaster responded, ‘‘based on how active most of them have been in undermining our democracies in the west.’’

Kosachyov portrayed the indictment as an attack on Trump by his foes and said he expects pressure on Russia to increase as the investigation moves forward.

"The evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain, whereas in the past it was difficult to attribute"

H.R. McMaster, US national security adviser