Lavrov denies Russian influence over US election
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed claims that his country is interfering in the US presidential election as "ridiculous".
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour in Moscow, Lavrov said it was "flattering" that American officials think Russia is meddling in the election, but the accusations were baseless.
The US last week accused Russia of being behind a series of email hacks,including communications from the Democratic National Committee.
"It's flattering, of course, to get this kind of attention -- for a regional power, as President Obama called us some time ago," Lavrov said in the CNN interview.
"Now everybody in the United States is saying that it is Russia which is running the [US] presidential debate," he said.
"We have not seen a single fact, a single proof."
Last Friday's announcement was the first time the US government has publicly blamed another country for hacking with the goal of influencing a US election. Officials told CNN that it followed long deliberations within the Obama administration as to whether and when to take the step.
Accusations of Trump collusion
Democrats have accused Russia of coordinating the release of the emails to benefit Republican candidate Donald Trump's campaign.
The White House followed up Tuesday by saying it would respond to the alleged Russian cyber attacks in a "proportional" way, without detailing what that retaliation might be.
Asked about this threatened response, Lavrov said: "It's not worth, I believe, speculating. If they decided to do something, let them do it. But to say that Russia is interfering in the United States' domestic matters, is ridiculous."
Lavrov accused the United States of failing to respond to a proposal "to start professional consultations on cybercrime" that he said was put by the Russian Prosecutor General's office to the US Department of Justice almost a year ago.
Source: CNN
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