The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed as "nonsense" a report by NBC News that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved...
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed as "nonsense" a report by NBC News that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in trying to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
"I was astonished when I saw it," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said of the news report, according to Russia's TASS news agency. "I think, this is nothing but nonsense, there is not a chance that anybody could believe that."
In Japan, where Putin was on an official visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also blasted the report as "ludicrous nonsense."
These statements, like any nonsense, "cannot have any grounds," the Kremlin spokesman said.
The report by NBC News cited two unnamed "senior U.S. intelligence officials" as saying the Russian president personally intervened in the 2016 presidential election.
New intelligence links Putin directly to the leaks from hacked Democratic National Committee emails, the officials told NBC News with "a high level of confidence."
A high-level intelligence source said the campaign began as a "vendetta" against Hillary Clinton, NBC News reported. The goal grew into an effort to expose corruption in U.S. politics and to undermine America's international credibility.
The NBC News report comes after last week's report from The Washington Post, also citing unnamed intelligence sources, which said the CIA believed that Russia not only interfered in the election, but did so with the intention of helping Donald Trump win.
Although U.S. intelligence agencies agree Russia was behind several hacks during the campaign, including that of the DNC, the CIA is thus far the only agency reported to have reached the conclusion that the efforts were explicitly meant to benefit Trump.
via usatoday
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