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Moscow sees no evidence to back US accusations of election meddling

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow cannot take for granted the US accusations amid a lack of mutual trust

NEW DELHI, January 9. /TASS/. The United States has not presented any physical evidence of Russia’s alleged interference in the US presidential election, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at the Raisina Dialogue international conference on Wednesday.

"I am aware that many in the United States strongly believe that Russia did something wrong in influencing the election, in hacking and so on. We have repeatedly requested this [US] administration along with the Obama administration to discuss the issue in a pragmatic manner between agencies, dealing with IP addresses, individuals and legal entities," Ryabkov said. "The answer was no or there was no answer."

According to Ryabkov, amid a lack of trust between Moscow and Washington, Russia cannot take for granted the US accusations, including the ones emerging in US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump.

"In recent years, we have not seen anything proving US officials’ accusations against Russia," the senior diplomat stressed.

In mid-February 2018, the US authorities brought official charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations accusing them of trying to meddle with political processes and the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States. The 37-page indictment was released by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Among those charged are 12 employees of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, which, according to the indictment, had been engaged in operations seeking to interfere into political processes in the United States since 2014.

Apart from that, Mueller brought charges against Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin accusing him of funding the anti-US information campaign conducted by the Internet Research Agency. The funds, according to US investigators, came from Prigozhin and his companies, including Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering.

Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Mueller’s investigation was absolutely futile. Moscow had been repeatedly denying its involvement in any attempts to influence elections in the United States.

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