Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released on Friday that he “couldn’t care less” if fellow Russian citizens sought to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election, insisting such efforts could not be tied to the Kremlin.
“Why have you decided the Russian authorities, myself included, gave anybody permission to do this?” Putin asked in the often-combative interview with NBC television.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a wide-ranging investigation to determine whether US President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow to help elect him.
Photo: Reuters
Last month Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for allegedly backing Trump’s campaign, maligning his Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and engaging in other election interference.
“So what if they’re Russians?” Putin said of the allegations. “There are 146 million Russians. So what? ... I don’t care. I couldn’t care less ... They do not represent the interests of the Russian state.”
Mueller issued a 37-page indictment against the Russians, but Putin indicated he has seen no evidence thus far that the alleged meddling broke any US law.
“Are we the ones who imposed sanctions on the United States? The US imposed sanctions on us,” he said. “We in Russia cannot prosecute anyone as long as they have not violated Russian law ... At least send us a piece of paper ... Give us a document. Give us an official request. And we’ll take a look at it.”
The US’ leading intelligence agencies last year concluded that Putin had directed a broad intelligence effort to influence the US election to undermine Clinton’s campaign and boost Trump’s chances, but Trump has repeatedly denied colluding with Moscow.
The Russian leader also rejected those assessments.
“Could anyone really believe that Russia, thousands of miles away ... influenced the outcome of the election? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous even to you?” Putin asked.
US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, when he announced the Russian indictment, said it made no judgement on whether the alleged Russian propaganda campaign altered the outcome of the election which Trump won.
“It’s not our goal to interfere. We do not see what goal we would accomplish by interfering. There’s no goal,” Putin said.
Trump himself has repeatedly shied away from condemning Russia over the alleged meddling.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
CHURCH ABDUCTIONS: Remarks by police and other officials were ‘intended to prevent unnecessary panic while facts were being confirmed,’ a spokesman said Nigerian police on Tuesday made an about-turn, saying that gunmen had abducted dozens of people during Sunday mass in northern Kaduna State after dismissing the initial reports. A senior Christian clergy and a village head had on Monday told reporters that more than 160 people were snatched from several churches on Sunday. A security report prepared for the UN said that more than 100 people had been kidnapped at multiple churches. The chief of police of Kaduna State and two senior government officials had initially issued denials, saying security officers had visited the scene of the alleged crimes and found no proof of
RSS