Putin: ‘Read my lips, Russia did not meddle in US election’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described allegations that his country meddled in the 2016 US election as “fictional, illusory, provocations and lies”.

Asked directly on Thursday whether Russia interfered in the election, Putin said: “Read my lips: No.”

“We said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident…and know for sure that opinion polls in the United States show that very many people are friendly towards the Russian Federation, and I’d like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations,” he said at a conference.

“All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies. All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside.”

FBI director James Comey confirmed earlier this month that it is investigating alleged Russian interference in last year’s election, including any links between Moscow and Trump’s election campaign. The investigation started in July last year, several months before the election, but Comey did not confirm its existence until his appearance at a House Intelligence Committee hearing this month. In January, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report accusing Russia of meddling in the elections.

Putin also downplayed a meeting between Jared Kushner – Trump’s son-in-law and close advisor – and Sergey Gorkov, chairman of Russian state development bank VneshEconomBank, which has been under US sanctions since July 2014.

“Now there are some questions raised regarding the meetings with our bankers. But American bankers come to Russia and talk to us, don’t they? Including our officials. How can they work otherwise? Of course they hold meetings,” he said, without explicitly naming the men in question.

“I think it’s not in the interest of the American people to carry Russian-American relations to the point of absurdity, just to benefit the inner political agenda.

“What do we want? To break off the diplomatic relationship? To force the situation to the point of the 1960s [Cuban missile] crisis? And what’s next?” Putin asked. “People who beheve themselves so recklessly, what are they leading us to? Including the people of the USA. I think it’s a big mistake and I hope the situation will normalize, and the sooner the better.”