Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who briefed reporters on the results of the talks, said he detected a new willingness from the Japanese government to find common ground.
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Members of the Russian delegation, led by President Vladimir Putin, meet with members of the Japanese delegation, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the sidelines of Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on September 2, 2016.
“We have never interfered, are not interfering and do not intend to interfere in domestic politics”.
The leaking of the DNC’s files, said President Putin, had been a service to the public.
In July, Wikileaks released a trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee, leading to the ouster of chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and several other top DNC aides.
Since then, further alleged Russian-linked breaches have occurred, with USA intelligence officials saying they suspect Russian-connected hackers may have been involved in passing 20,000 emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign to the whistleblower site WikiLeaks and, most recently, of possibly breaking into voter registration systems in two states.
USA intelligence officials described the covert influence campaign as “ambitious” and said it is also created to counter US leadership and influence in worldwide affairs.
Officials who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity said there was no confirmation of any executed or planned attack, but according to one “even the hint of something impacting the security of our election system would be of significant concern”.
Relations between Russian Federation and United States hit a post-Cold War low in 2014 over the Ukraine crisis, and Washington and Moscow have since clashed over diverging policies in Syria. “It’s clear that Russian Federation thinks the reward outweighs any consequences. this is going to take a cross-domain response – diplomatic, political and economic – that turns the screws on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his cronies”.
President Obama lays out a warning to Russia: Stop the cyber-attacks on the U.S.
Despite previous allegations of ties between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin, officials said the objective of the Russian operation is not necessarily to sway the presidential election in the Republican’s favour.
Putin said both candidates were using shock tactics and that playing “the anti-Russian card” was short-sighted.
“I don’t know anything about that”, he said, chuckling in the interview with Bloomberg’s John Micklethwait.
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“No, I don’t know anything about that”, Putin said in a jocular tone, raising an eyebrow as he answered the question.
