MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The Russian Institute for Strategic Studies considers questions about it assisting the Kremlin in influencing the US presidential election to be a bad joke, the institute’s Public Relations Center told TASS.
"Unfortunately, the number of slanderous remarks against Russia has been growing recently but those making such remarks wrongly perceive the world," the center added expressing hope that the Western media asking to comment on the ways Russia influenced the US election "were only joking."
The Institute’s press service recommended to "forward such questions to Hillary Clinton’s election team." "She claims to know who prevented her from becoming the next US president, so she should also know if the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies ever considered the ways to influence the US presidential election," the press service added.
The Institute for Strategic Studies is a big research center and a think-tank founded by the Russian president.
It provides information, expert assessments and recommendations concerning national security and relations with other countries to the Russian Presidential Administration, Federal Assembly (parliament), Security Council, the country’s government, ministries and various state agencies. Besides, the Institute assesses the current political, economic and social trends on the global and regional level, studies the possible ways to ensure strategic stability in the changing political situation, analyzes strategic risks and methods to resolve crises which pose danger to the global and regional stability. It also pays much attention to issues related to the fight against terrorism.
Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, who is also former director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, currently heads the Institute.