Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said if there were any truth to the allegations, they would have leaked during the past year of investigations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed U. S. charges of Russian meddling in U. S.elections as baseless « claptrap. »
Lavrov, at a security conference in Munich, was asked in a Q-and-A for his reaction to the indictment of 13 people and three Russian entities issued Friday by U. S. special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I have no response,” Lavrov said. « You can publish anything, and we see those indictments multiplying, the statements multiplying.”
He argued that U. S. officials also have said no country influenced the U. S. election results.
“Until we see the fact, everything else is just claptrap,” he said.
Some news media translated his pungent « claptrap » description as either « blather » or « blabber. »
Lavrov’s comments were similar in tone to remarks he made on Friday to Euronews TV in which he addressed the general charges of Russian interference in U. S. elections, but did not mention the indictments.
« There’s much talk about state interference in the electoral process but I haven’t seen a single fact to date, » Lavrov said, according to the Tass news agency .
He suggested if there were any truth to the allegations, they would have leaked during the past year of investigations.
« The situation where no facts have leaked the public sphere over almost half-a-year that the investigation is in progress is simply impossible for the U. S., » Lavrov said. « If there were at least some smoldering, smoke would be seen at once. »
He also suggested that U. S. authorities had « cornered themselves » by making statements about Russian meddling in the past and « now they are trying to at least some retroactive justifications but still they are floundering. »
Lavrov said that he hopes the noise will « fade away » in Washington, but suggests that is unlikely until November.
« It’s clear though this shouldn’t be expected before the midterms in November because the struggle for seats in the U. S. Congress and gubernatorial positions is already in full swing, » he said.
Lavrov’s comments about the absence of facts of Russian state involvement in any meddling reflects the fact that the new indictments did not single out any Russian government agencies, neither the intelligence services nor Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Mueller team, however, may well have left out any charges of direct Kremlin ties because such links would be difficult to prove in court without revealing U. S. intelligence methods for finding that information.
Lavrov also pointedly rejected the notion, as spelled out in the indictments, that Russian meddling was aimed at advancing the candidacy of President Trump
« Moscow is prepared in all cases to cooperate with a president and a government that is elected by the people in any country, » Lavrov said
