The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Russia denies interfering in US electoral processes
Summit: Trump berates investigation of Russian collusion as a ‘disaster’
Russian president Vladimir Putin has denied his country interfered in the 2016 US elections.
Mr Putin said the “so-called Russian interference” in the election was brought up by US leader Donald Trump during their summit in Helsinki.
Speaking at a joint news conference alongside his US counterpart, Mr Putin said: “I repeat that the Russian state never interfered, and does not plan to interfere in internal American electoral process.”
Mr Trump said the Russian collusion investigation has been a “disaster” and has kept America and Russia “separated”.
He repeated that there
“The Russian state never interfered and does not plan to”
had been “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russian government.
The US president said he ran a “clean campaign” and beat his Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton “easily”. The American president said it is a “shame” there is a cloud over his administration, but said he ran a “brilliant campaign”.
Mr Putin said of the collusion claims that there is “no evidence when it comes to the actual facts.”
In general, the Russian leader said, the talks with Mr Trump took place in an “open and businesslike atmosphere” and he characterised them as “successful and useful”.
Mr Trump told the press conference that the United States and Russia must find ways to “co-operate in pursuit of shared interests”.
The US leader said productive dialogue between America and Russia is good for both countries and for the world.
Mr Trump added they had discussed disagreements “at length”, and accepted that relations between them have never been worse.
However, Mr Trump added that he thinks “that changed as of about four hours ago”.
He said he is sure that he and Mr Putin will meet again often in the future.
Mr Trump confirmed that he addressed meddling by Russia in the 2016 US election with his Russian opposite number, but the US leader is not condemning Moscow’s conduct publicly.
He said his message was “best delivered in person”, adding that he “spent a great deal of time” talking about election meddling.
Mr Putin feels strongly about the issue, Mr Trump claimed, and “has an interesting idea”.
The summit comes days after the US indictment of 12 alleged Russian military intelligence agents for sophisticated hacking in the 2016 election.
Mr Trump, when asked about a Russian gas pipeline to Germany, noted that the US and Russia compete in the energy market.
He said that when he referred to Mr Putin as a competitor, he meant it as a compliment. Mr Trump criticised the pipeline during an earlier stop on his week-long visit to Europe.