Araweelo News Network
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, address a press conference in Minsk, Belarus. (AP file photo)
Moscow(ANN)-Russia says it is “tired” of “baseless allegations” by Washington that Moscow meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.
American officials, including outgoing President Barack Obama, have accused the Kremlin of carrying out cyberattacks against US political organizations to help Republican candidate Donald Trump win the White House.
On Friday, the US intelligence community released an unclassified report claiming that the Russian government directed hackers to target various Democratic Party organizations and operatives to influence the outcome of the election.
Speaking to reporters on Monday in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman and aide, Dmitry Peskov, denounced the US hacking claims.
“These are baseless allegations substantiated with nothing, done on a rather amateurish, emotional level that is hardly worthy of professional work of truly world-class security services,” he said.
“We still don’t know what data is really being used by those who present such unfounded accusations,” Peskov stated, adding that Moscow was “categorically denying any implication” it was responsible for the alleged hacking.
“We are growing rather tired of these accusations. It is becoming a full-on witch hunt,” Peskov added.
Trump has also downplayed Russia’s alleged meddling in the US election, saying there was no credible evidence the hacking affected the election results.
He has said that Democrats were making a lot of “noise” about Russia’s alleged hacking because they were “embarrassed” by the election results.
He said that the hacking revelations are a “political witch hunt” aimed at discrediting his election victory.
The US intelligence community’s report accuses President Putin of personally ordering his government to help Trump win the presidential election.
The report claims that Russia “sought to help” Trump by running a smear campaign against Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, but the report has not concluded that the Russian interference tipped the scales to the Republican candidate.
Trump has previously floated the idea that the hacks could have been carried out by a “14-year-old” or “a guy sitting on their bed who weighs 400 pounds.”
The president-elect has also cited past faulty intelligence involving the Iraq War to raise doubts about the intelligence community’s assessment now.
“These are the same people who said Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction,” Trump said in a statement last month.