President Vladimir Putin has renewed Russia’s rejection of accusations of interference in last year’s presidential election in the US, saying the claims were nothing more than “espionage mania”.
Donald Trump’s associates have been accused of colluding with Russian operatives during the 2016 US presidential campaign and transition — a claim the US president fiercely denies.
“All this was made up by people who are opposed to Trump,” Putin said at his annual press conference on Thursday in response to a question about allegations of Russian meddling.
Putin said the allegations were nothing more than mere “madness” and “espionage mania”, adding they were “dreamed up” by Trump’s “delirious” opponents in an effort to discredit the US president.
Such allegations are not only odd and disrespectful to US voters, but also counter-productive in solving the two countries’ common issues, he said.
“I find this very odd, frankly speaking. It…