Putin rebuffs accusations about Russian intervention in U.S. election

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

Russian President Vladimir Putin has anew rebuffed the accusations about his country's interference into the recent presidential elections in the United States. 

The allegations over Moscow's support to the president-elect Donald Trump caused enormous reaction in the media, thus putting a shadow on the illegitimacy of the polls.     

U.S. officials and many observers believe that Putin wanted to decrease Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's chances of election because she publicly took a tough stance over Russia.

Putin used an interview aired on June 4 on NBC to distance himself from the controversy over suspicions of Russian interference in election process which set back Russia's hopes to improve strained ties with the U.S.

Putin expressed his conviction that no outside interference can affect the final result of the elections in any country, not even in a small, much less "in such a great power as the United States."

During the interview, Putin underlined that the United States itself has a history of meddling in foreign elections.

"Put your finger anywhere on a map of the world, and everywhere you will hear complaints that American officials are interfering in internal electoral processes," he said.

Putin claimed that Russia has a preference in an election but only reacts to the "political direction" that the United States seems to be heading in.

He also called “a load of nonsense” the idea that Russia has damaging information on President Donald Trump and denies having any relationship with him.

In addition to being unable to influence elections in any country from outside, the president cited NBC other arguments against Russia's accusations of such attempts. He suggested that skilled hackers anywhere, including the U.S., could shift the blame for hacking onto Russia.

Putin repeatedly rejected claims that Russian hackers had acted to help Trump win the election ? an assertion that has been substantiated by multiple U.S. intelligence agencies. Officials at those organizations have said Putin personally “ordered an influence campaign” in an intelligence report ordered by former President Barack Obama.

“I haven’t seen, even once, any direct proof of Russian interference in the presidential election in the United States,” the president said at the interview.

Putin commented on individual meetings of Trump team members with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, as well as the fact that he himself sat at a table with Michael Flynn in 2015, who became an adviser to the U.S. president for national security in 2017 and soon left this post because of accusations of hiding contacts with Russian representatives.

Putin said that he practically did not talk to Flynn, and learned about the fact that Flynn had previously had a relationship with the U.S. special services later.

He also stated that he has not heard of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner’s proposal to create a closed communication channel between Trump's team and the Russian leadership using Russian diplomatic missions and equipment. 

U.S. Congress is currently investigating the possible Russian intervention in the presidential election, during which Donald Trump has won. At the same time, there are regular reports in the American media about the contacts of members of Trump's campaign headquarters with Russian officials and businessmen. Russia repeatedly denied such accusations while Kremlin called them "absolutely unsubstantiated."