Indictments meant to ‘spoil’ Putin-Trump summit

Russia says the indictment of a dozen Russians for allegedly hacking the US Democratic Party in 2016 is meant to “spoil” the upcoming meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump.

“It is regrettable that spreading false information has become the norm in Washington, and indictments are based on openly political motives,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement on Friday, adding, “Obviously, the purpose of this is to spoil the atmosphere” ahead of the Putin-Trump summit slated to be held in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Monday.

The statement came a few hours after US Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials on charges of hacking the computer networks of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her party to help Republican Trump.

The Russian ministry also blamed the “influential political forces of the…

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