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US presidential election 2016

Kremlin has no plans to keep an eye on US Electoral College voting

The Kremlin doesn't have time for that, the spokesman has stressed

© AP Photo/Willie J. Allen Jr.

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. The Kremlin will not be keeping an eye on the EU Electoral College voting, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters adding that "we don’t have time for that." "However, we will assess the news when it comes," Peskov added.

On December 19, the Electoral College members are scheduled to vote to select the president and vice president of the United States. All electors will be meeting in their respective state capitols to cast their ballots.

However, the voting results are known in advance: during the November 8 voting Donald Trump received 306 electoral votes, while Hillary Clinton got 232. 270 electoral votes are necessary to secure a victory.

Cyber attacks

Peskov has declined to say what Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barak Obama discussed when they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.

"They met in private. As a rule the content and results of such one-on-one meetings are not made public. As far as attacks by hackers are concerned, we said all we could. And we have nothing to add," Peskov said.

Read also

Kremlin: US must either stop accusing Russia of elections meddling or prove it

US President Barack Obama addressed a news conference last Friday to disclose what he said were some details of the conversation he had had with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. Among other things he said to journalists that he had discussed with Putin the theme of what he described as Russian hackers’ attacks on the US election system. Obama said his intention was to warn the Russian leader of serious consequences that would follow should the cyber-attacks continued.

Later, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin at a meeting with Obama presented a clear answer to US allegations about Russian intervention into the election campaign.

"It was a one-on-one conversation. Various subjects were discussed. That theme was touched upon. The answer from our side was a very clear one, which possibly did not fit in well enough with what Obama was trying to explain to us," Ushakov said.

The outgoing US Administration has openly accused Moscow of being behind cyber-attacks against US political institutions and the election system as such. Earlier, Peskov said the US authorities "should either stop talking about that or present some proof at last."

"Otherwise it begins to look not very decent," he added.

Tags

Foreign policy Donald Trump US elections 2016

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