Putin downplays U.S. report on Russian meddling
MOSCOW — The Kremlin yesterday dismissed a new report by U.S. Senate Democrats describing Russian interference in the U.S. and throughout Europe as unfounded and President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of “aggressive” overreaction.
The 200-page report commissioned by U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is the first from Congress to detail alleged Russian efforts to undermine democracies since the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Commenting on the report, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that “the accusations of alleged meddling leveled against our country are absolutely unfounded.”
Speaking in a conference call yesterday with reporters, Peskov said that “such paranoid concerns not only hurt bilateral relations, but the U.S. itself.
“When it grows into an obsession, it doesn’t create comfortable conditions for normal social development and life,” he said.
Speaking at a televised meeting with Russian newspaper editors, Putin pointed at what he described as U.S. meddling in other countries’ affairs, adding that “if they poke their nose everywhere they must be able to respond to certain challenges they provoke themselves.
“But please don’t interpret it like a recognition of our meddling. We haven’t meddled,” he added. “I want to underline again — it’s sheer nonsense. There has been no collusion, no interference on our part.”
The Russian leader didn’t specifically mention the Cardin report.
No Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee signed on to Cardin’s inquiry, which directly blamed Putin for a “relentless assault to undermine democracy and the rule of law in Europe and the United States.”
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the U.S. election to help Donald Trump, a Republican, defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. The congressional and the FBI investigations into the Russian meddling have haunted Trump, thwarting Russia’s hopes for better ties with the U.S. under his administration.
Putin said that Russia remains willing to improve ties with the U.S., but added that the U.S. political infighting makes it difficult.
“The domestic political situation in the U.S. isn’t calming down,” he said. “They are playing the Russian card in the U.S. politics, and they are threatening the incumbent president with impeachment, using the alleged Russian interference as an argument.”