MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The administration of Barack Obama tried by all means to complicate life for new US President Donald Trump during the entire election campaign until Trump’s inauguration, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

As the Russian diplomat said, Russophobic hysteria in the United States began to be instigated on the eve of the US presidential elections.

"Back last summer, the US White House spread unfounded accusations in the media about Russia’s interference in the election campaign and information on the alleged presence of Russian hackers," the spokeswoman said.

"Special services made the public ‘brew’ in the information compilation of pseudo-facts," the Russian diplomat said.

"After the November 8 voting, as it seems to me, the administration of Barack Obama in principle stopped to control itself and there was a feeling that they were trying to vent their entire frustrations against us," the diplomat said, adding that this looked like domestic vengeance for whose implementation all the means would be appropriate.

"All this was done because Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had lost and all this was implemented to maximally complicate life for the newly elected president, including for the purpose of throwing his victory into doubt," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

The Russian diplomat presumed that the lies about cyberattacks and hacking and Moscow’s alleged interference in the elections were spread by the Obama administration specially for "making an excuse to numerous sponsors of the Democrats’ campaign."

"The campaign was not simply expensive but one of the most expensive in the history of presidential races," she added.

"Moreover, as you remember, the media made people have no doubts that some other candidate rather than Hillary Clinton could win," the Russian diplomat said.

"All this was done also for the purpose of raising as many funds as possible. Now they have to give an account, both moral and financial, to these people," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Obama team deals last-minute blows on basics of Russia-US ties

The outgoing team of US President Barack Obama in its last hours in office keeps dealing blows on the basics of Moscow-Washington relations, Zakharova said.

"In recent days we’ve heard the US Administration, all of its officials, in particular, those active on the foreign policy track, speak at length about Russia," Zakharova said. "Tomorrow is the presidential inauguration day in the US, and today is the last day of the outgoing administration in office, so the latest statements by foreign policy officials and our counterparts are a good occasion for looking back on Barack Obama’s eight years in office and its effects on relations between our countries."

"Regrettably, the results are deplorable. The outgoing Democratic team has deliberately ruined bilateral relations to cause them sink to the Cold War state. Even in its last hours it keeps hitting their basics."

Partners’ fine promises did not last

Zakharova recalled that in the early days of his first term of office in 2009 Obama proclaimed a reset of bilateral relations and the intention to work for their comprehensive development. "At a certain stage some important bilateral agreements, including the 2010 START treaty, were signed," she said. "However, the partners’ fine intentions were not destined to last. While professing commitment to cooperation on the basis of respect in reality Washington had in mind a "follow-me" type of relationship, which it prefers to maintain with the West European countries."

"When it became obvious that in relations with Russia this will not work, the United States, reluctant to see us gain a firmer foothold in the world scene, started turning towards confrontation and actively using different instruments of pressure," Zakharova said.

Russian diplomats’ conditions in US worsened

During the Obama presidency the conditions of Russian diplomats in the United States turned for the worse, Zakharova said.

"In particular, one should remark that the Obama administration back several years ago made it a rule to put pressures on our diplomatic offices in the United States," Zakharova said. "Attempts at luring Russian officials working abroad into clandestine collaboration have regrettably become a norm and a very unpleasant one, a routine, a daily affair."

Last year Russia faced a sudden ban on using large busses at the disposal of its foreign offices. Then there followed restrictions on the rules of presence of official delegations in US territory.

"We invariably tried to cooperate constructively with the US Department of State on all these matters," Zakharova said. "It was part of the daily work of our embassy and the Foreign Ministry. At negotiations between the two foreign ministers all these themes were systematically touched upon and discussed."

"On the one hand, we saw US Department of State officials’ genuine wish to look into the matter," Zakharova said. "In our opinion many of those pre-requisites and responses were really sincere, but all that was blocked at the level of the administration. Then the state of affairs turned from bad to worse.

Public persecution of Russian sports

I believe that memories are fresh of the attempts to discredit the Sochi Olympics (incidentally, that was before Crimea)," Zakharova went on to say. "More such attempts followed on the eve of the Olympics and during the Games. Eventually it all developed into an unprecedented public persecution of Russian sports as such."

"US government-financed anti-doping agency plays the role of one of the initiators behind the decision to bar our athletes from international competition," Zakharova said.

Coup in Kiev

Washington certainly played a role in the government coup in Kiev, which took place three years ago, Zakharova said.

"Those events put everything in relations between Russia and the outgoing White House team in its proper place," Zakharova said. "Since that moment the Obama Administration openly declared a policy of systemic containment of our country."

"Starting from 2014 Washington on 35 occasions imposed and expanded various restrictions on Russia on a variety of pretexts," she said. "On the US black lists there are the names of 172 Russians and 350 legal entities."

"In order to excuse this policy somehow Russia was accused of aggressive behavior, with absolutely no charges to support the claims. The entire potential of the propaganda machine was employed for this purpose," Zakharova said. "On this pretext the United States was building up the Pentagon’s potential near Russia’s borders, deploying the missile defense system and making other military preparations."

Isolation concept’s failure

As Zakharova said, it was impossible for Moscow to take a serious attitude towards Washington’s policy of boycott.

"That concept fell through with a crash," she said. "No other than US Secretary of State John Kerry during one of his visits to Moscow recognized in public the United States was unable to sidestep Russia in addressing world issues."