Russian state has never been involved in any hacking attacks, insists Putin
THE Russian state has never been involved in hacking, president Vladimir Putin has said.
He added that some individual “patriotic” hackers could mount attacks amid the current cold spell in Russia’s relations with the West.
But he categorically insisted “we don’t engage in that at the state level”.
At a meeting with editors of international news agencies, Mr Putin also said “no hackers can influence election campaigns in any country of Europe, Asia or America”.
US intelligence agencies have accused Russia of hacking into Democratic Party emails, helping Donald Trump win last year’s American presidential election.
Mr Putin also said Russian military deployments on a group of Pacific islands claimed by Japan have been sparked by the US military build-up in the region.
The four islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the southern Kurils in Russia, were seized by the former Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War, preventing the two countries from signing a peace treaty.
Mr Putin said the US will probably continue to build up its forces in the region even if North Korea agrees to curb its nuclear and missile programmes. He also warned that attempts to contain Russia will not succeed.
Without naming any country, he said Russia has faced attempts to hurt its legitimate interests.
Russia’s relations with the West have been at post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis.
The US and the EU have hit Moscow with sanctions over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and support for pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
He said economic restrictions against Russia have had “zero effect” and predicted that the current strain in relations will ease because it is “counterproductive and harmful”.
Moscow will wait until anti-Russian sentiment in the US abates before trying to forge ties with Mr Trump, he said
Mr Putin said the “Russo-phobic hysteria” in the US is aimed “against the current US president to prevent him from working normally”.
However, he predicted “this will end, sooner or later”.