US Senate report on Russian election meddling does not present evidence

MOSCOW: The fifth and final volume of a report released by the US Senate Intelligence Committee on the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 American presidential election fails to present facts and evidence, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"Like the previously released sections of the report, the last part does not contain real facts or evidence," Xinhua news agency quoted Zakharova as saying in a statement on Saturday.

"In fact, it repeats the unfounded accusations we have been familiar with since the Muller report and other US documents came out, including the alleged hacking of the servers of the Democratic Party, the contacts of Trump's staff with Russian citizens, and Russia's desire to undermine the US democracy, etc.," she added.

The spokesperson said Russia had repeatedly noted the unsubstantiated nature of those American claims, adding that the whole story about Russian interference was "from the very beginning invented in the course of the internal political struggle between various forces in the US".

Moscow regrets the damage done to its relationship with the US and warned Washington against spreading "anti-Russia myths", she added.

In the report released on August 18, the Senate Intelligence Committee offered new details Ton the roles played by US President Donald Trump's campaign advisers and their willingness to take advantage of a Russia-directed attempt to undermine the candidacy of then Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, reports USA Today.

Across nearly 1,000 pages, the Republican-led Senate panel not only documented the interactions of Trump campaign officials with Russian contacts but faulted the FBI, in part, for providing a "veneer of credibility" to an uncorroborated dossier that sought to disparage Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election. (IANS) 

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