MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. A report by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller on the results of his probe into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US elections should be seen from the viewpoint of whether the document is worth to be analyzed and reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Thursday.
"It is first necessary to look through [the document] and understand whether it contains something that is worth of analysis," the Kremlin spokesman said, responding to a question about whether Putin would be informed about the report.
A news conference was held in Washington earlier on Thursday, which was devoted to the publication of the full version of Mueller’s report. US Attorney General William Barr claimed at the news conference that pursuant to the report’s findings Russia had interfered in the 2016 US elections. However, as he further said, neither the election headquarters of US incumbent President Donald Trump nor anyone else from among US citizens had taken part in this activity and had been in any conspiracy with the Russian authorities.
Russia has numerously rejected at various levels any involvement in any such actions allegedly attributed to it.
Earlier on Thursday, before the report’s release, Peskov told reporters that Russia was not looking forward to its publication. "It is America that is looking forward to the report’s release but we aren’t. This is not an issue for us, it is not a thing that interests us or causes us concern," Peskov pointed out. "All the reports on the matter that have been released so far contain nothing but cursory statements."
The Mueller probe
The FBI, as well as the intelligence committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives, have been handling the investigation into Russia’s alleged interference into the 2016 US presidential election.
In May 2017, the US Department of Justice announced that former FBI Chief Robert Mueller had been appointed as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference, shortly after Trump fired James Comey from his FBI chief’s post. According to the Washington Post daily, Mueller is using documents compiled by Comey in his investigation.
A report by US Attorney General William Burr published on March 24 has confirmed that there was no collusion between Moscow and the Donald Trump presidential campaign. However, the document claims that Russia attempted to influence the outcome of the US 2016 presidential election through cyberattacks, as well as through the activities of Russia’s Internet Research Agency.
Trump and key members of his team have been repeatedly rejecting all the accusations concerning any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Moscow has also been refuting these allegations.