Russia on Tuesday pointed to the charges against Paul Manafort and an aide to President Trump’s 2016 campaign as proof there is no evidence that Moscow interfered in the election, according to a report.
“We are accused of interfering not only in US elections but also in those of other countries without one piece of evidence,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to Agence France-Presse.
He also made light of the allegations of meddling.
There are reports that “we don’t just interfere in elections, we manipulate the weather and bring about floods,” Lavrov joked. “Everyone likes to talk but no one can present any facts.”
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said interfering claims are completely unfounded and blamed it on “Russophobia.”
“We refuted this from the very beginning and we refute this now,” Dmitry Peskov said. “Any accusations that emerge from a US investigation into US citizens do not concern us: this is America’s internal business and we simply observe with interest.”
He said he hoped the continuing Russia investigation would not add to the “already overblown, hysterical Russophobia.”
Manafort and a longtime business associate Rick Gates were charged on Monday in a 12-count indictment of tax fraud, conspiracy against the United States and money laundering by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Manafort, 68, and Gates, 45, allegedly carried out the misdeeds while working for former Ukrainian President Viktor Vanykovych, who has ties to Putin, between 2006 and 2016.
Separately, George Papadopoulos, a foreign-policy adviser to the Trump campaign, admitted lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russian officials, according to court papers.
He eventually acknowledged that he met with a London-based professor who claimed to have”dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”
Papadopoulos also told FBI agents that he tried to arrange meetings between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials.
The US intelligence community is in agreement that Russia meddled in the presidential election.
Mueller is looking at the interference to determine if the Trump campaign colluded in any way.