Putin mocks interference claims
‘Is America some kind of banana republic?’ Russian leader asks
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed claims that Russia is interfering in the U.S. presidential election, saying the allegations are designed to distract the public from real issues.
The United States has accused Russia of coordinating the hacks of Hillary Clinton’s campaign emails to influence the outcome of the election.
Speaking to international foreign policy experts in Sochi, Putin dismissed “the hysteria about Russia’s influence on the U.S. presidential election.”
He argued that U.S. elites have used the “mythical” issue to distract attention from real problems such as government debt and police violence.
“Does anyone seriously think Russia can somehow influence the American people’s choice?” Putin said. “Is America some kind of banana republic? America is a great power!”
Putin called the claim that Russia favors Republican contender Donald Trump in the race as “sheer nonsense” that has served as a campaign tool. “It’s just an instrument of political struggle, a way of manipulating public opinion,” he said.
The Russian leader added that while Trump may sound “extravagant,” he was trying to reach out to people who are tired of elites, and “time will tell how efficient it is for him.”
“We don’t know how Trump or Clinton will behave, what they will or will not deliver,” he said. “We feel more or less indifferent about it.”
Trump on Thursday criticized rival Hillary Clinton for being too tough on Vladimir Putin, once again raising eyebrows about the Republican candidate’s re- lationship with the Russian president.
Speaking at a rally in Ohio, Trump took issue with Clinton’s criticism of the Russian leader, who has been denounced in the West for his military assertiveness and anti-democratic tendencies.
“She speaks very badly of Putin, and I don’t think that’s smart,” Trump told a crowd of thousands, noting that Russia has nuclear weapons. “How do you speak so badly of someone?” he asked.
Putin said that it’s not clear what stance the next U.S. president will take toward Russia, but added that Moscow welcomes campaign statements about normalizing ties.
“We will work with any president who will be elected by the American people,” he said.
Speaking Wednesday evening at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that Washington has no doubts of direct Russian involvement in the hacking.
“The president would not have authorized a release of the assessment to the intelligence community if we didn’t feel that it was serious and also if we didn’t feel that it was certain,” Kerry said. He also said separately in a CNN podcast that “the goal is to be disruptive, to interfere with our system, and be as annoying as people feel it is.”
Kerry said he has confronted Russian counterparts such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the matter.
“Their response is to demand the evidence and to ask for it,” he said. “And my response to that is, ‘Let’s not be foolish here. You know what we’re talking about.’”
Putin also asserted Thursday that the rise of popularity of nationalist parties in Europe was rooted in a widening gap between elites and the regular citizens, not the influence of Russian propaganda as many in the West have suggested.