During an interview with Sputnik and RT, former Russian diplomat and envoy to the United States Sergey Kislyak commented on the recent indictment of a number of Russian individuals and entities by US authorities over the alleged meddling in 2016 presidential election.
He described this move as "just another step in the chain of anti-Russian statements, actions that are developing in the United States as a result of their own problems and political fights in the country where the Russian-American relations had become victim of internal fights."
"So whatever claims are, I do not believe that there was any concerted effort to undermine elections in the United States by anybody in my country, let alone the involvement of the [Russian] government; that’s simply nonsense. So Americans are investigating things that are developing in their country, around their country, trying to find an explanation as to what is going wrong in their own country. And that’s another step in this direction; it’s unfortunate, it will pass," Kislyak said.
The former diplomat also stressed that "there was no meddling, there was no collusion", claiming that many years from now the public will be able to learn about the nature of "the internal mechanism that anti-Russian hysteria" thanks to memoirs and books on the subject that would be likely published by then.
He said that he cannot predict exactly when things will return to normal, noting however that based on his experience "almost everything in the States is pre-electional" and that allegations of meddling and the like are being used as "an instrument of the internal fights."
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"They will get tired of this mess, and will need some stability to overcome polarization in the country for their own sake. If that happens, or rather when it happens, I think we can count on Americans as a better interlocutor for us," Kislyak stated.
Earlier on Friday, February 16, the office of US Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued an indictment against 13 Russian individuals and three entities for allegedly breaking the law with the intention to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein insisted, however, that the indictment includes no allegation that the purported Russian meddling altered the outcome of the presidential election.
