NEW YORK, April 1. /TASS/. The Kremlin believes the low of level of Americans’ trust in Russia is a natural consequence of the intense propaganda campaign that has been underway in the US for more than a year now, Russian Presidential Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said in an interview with ABC’s "Good Morning America."
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When asked how he felt about the fact that only 9% of Americans speak well of Russia, according to the latest opinion polls, Peskov noted that this is regrettable, adding that the American audiences "have been a target for severe anti-Russian propaganda" for more than a year.
"Of course, they felt victim of that propaganda and that’s why lots of Americans, they do think that, yes, Russian hackers are everywhere. Russian hackers are in every fridge. Russian hackers are in every iron," Peskov said. "But this is not true. Those are fake news, and this is slander," he emphasized.
Speaking at The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue International Forum on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin flatly denied the allegations about Russia’s influence on the US presidential race last year. He did so by quoting one of the US presidents. "Read my lips: No," Putin said. He also voiced the conviction that anti-Russian rhetoric in Washington stems from internal strife between Donald Trump’s supporters and opponents in the US political establishment.
Putin and Trump are very much alike
The Trump administration needs time to formulate its thoughts about Russia in a more precise way, but Moscow has enough patience to wait for this, Peskov said.
"We're patient enough to wait until we understand what are the approaches of the present administration. We understand that they - the present administration - still needs time to be more precise in formulating their main ideas in terms of Russia," he noted. "The Russian side is ready to be as active as American side is ready," he added.
Peskov noted that President Putin and President Trump are very much alike in their basic approach to international relations. "So one is standing for national interest of the United States and the other one for the national interest of the Russian Federation. And they understand pretty well that sometimes it is in your national interest to conduct good relationship with a counterpart, ensuring that those relationships are mutually beneficial and ensuring that, that you are really ready to take into account each other's concern."
The Kremlin spokesman declined to provide a direct answer to the question whether Putin preferred Trump during the US election campaign to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. "No, it's not about preferring someone, it's about whose ideas are more close to you and whose ideas are more welcomed in Russian public opinion. Let's not forget about public opinion in our country. It's very influential and it's very powerful," he said.