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Putin calls Mueller probe’s outcome predictable: ‘the mountain gives birth to a mouse’

The probe is "total nonsense aimed mainly at the domestic audience", Vladimir Putin stressed

© AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

ST.PETERSBURG, April 9. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called predictable the outcome of an investigation conducted by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which found that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

"From the very beginning we said that this notorious commission led by Mr. Mueller won’t find anything because no one knows better than us: Russia has not meddled in any US election, there was no collusion between Trump and Russia, which Mr. Mueller had looked for," Putin told the International Arctic Forum.

Read also

Kremlin says Mueller report provides nothing new to back accusations against Russia

"This is total nonsense aimed mainly at the domestic audience and used in the domestic political struggle in the US itself," the Russian leader stressed. "That’s why it was clear for us beforehand that this [commission] would end so - as the saying goes ‘the mountain gave birth to a mouse’," Putin noted.

However, the domestic political situation in the US did not improve after the investigation had ended, Putin noted. The Russian leader called such attacks against Trump by the US political establishment "an element of a crisis in the US political system."

"Look what is going on now. Those groups, which are attacking the legitimate president - what is this? They disagree with the choice of the American people and they reduce to zero the results. This is the crisis of a political system," the Russian leader said, stressing that this has never happened in the US history before.

On March 24, the US Department of Justice presented a report on the investigation launched by Special Counsel and ex-FBI director Robert Mueller in May 2017. It found no evidence that the Trump campaign team "had conspired or coordinated" with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. However, the report alleges that Moscow tried to influence the election through its Internet Research Agency (IRA) and via hacker attacks. Trump and his aides have repeatedly rejected all allegations of any illicit contact with Russian officials during the election campaign. Russia has also repeatedly denied all allegations that it had attempted to influence the US election.

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