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Putin dismisses claims Russia was allegedly collecting compromising material on Trump

It is simply difficult to imagine nonsense more than that, Putin said

HELSINKI, July 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the claims that Russia had been allegedly collecting compromising evidence on US President Donald Trump.

"As for some compromising materials … I heard about this - that we were allegedly gathering damaging information on Mr. Trump when he came to Moscow. Dear colleague, when Mr. Trump was visiting Moscow, I didn’t even know that he was staying there. I treat Mr. Trump with respect as the head of the United States but when he was on a visit, I even did not know that he was staying in Moscow," the head of the Russian state said at a press conference after a summit meeting of the two leaders.

US media representatives asked Putin about whether the Russian government has any compromising material against Trump and his family, which made the Russian president laugh.

As an example, Putin cited the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum held this year, which was attended by over 500 US businessmen; moreover, business people of the highest rank.

"I cannot even recall their names. So, do you think that we organize special work on each of them and gather some compromising material?" Putin asked.

"It is simply difficult to imagine nonsense more than that. Please, throw it out of your head," Putin said, addressing US journalists.

The investigation into the alleged attempts by the Russian authorities to meddle into the US presidential elections in 2016 and the associated issues is being conducted by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI, Senate and House Committees of the US Congress.

US President Trump and his key aides have numerously rejected the suspicions of any illegitimate contacts with Russian officials during the US election campaign. Moscow has also dismissed the allegations of its attempts to influence the US presidential elections.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said he had never heard that Moscow allegedly had any compromising material on Trump.