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Russia Won't Submit to US Jurisdiction in 2016 Election Meddling - Court Filing

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Russia will not submit itself to US jurisdiction regarding complaints filed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) regarding election meddling allegations, Russia’s Justice Ministry said in a document filed in a US federal court.
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The DNC claims Russian persons hacked one of their servers and leaked emails to WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, purportedly operating at the behest of the Russian state, which was claimed to be seeking a Trump presidency.

"By transmitting this letter and the enclosed Statement, the Russian Federation respectfully does not enter an appearance in the litigation, does not waive its sovereign immunity under international law or the United States, statutory or federal common law, and does not submit to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court," the document said on Friday.

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The Russian Federation reserves all rights as a sovereign state, the document added.

The US District Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to hear claims against the Russian Federation based on the DNC's allegations, the document said.

The document also said the US District Court should reject the DNC's efforts to distort the meaning of the existing FSIA exceptions and also reject the judiciary becoming involved in this "fundamentally political and diplomatic issue."

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Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that it meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, insisting that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

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Moreover, Russian officials have said the allegations concerning meddling have been made up to excuse the election loss of a US presidential candidate and deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.

US President Donald Trump has also rejected accusations of collusion and has repeatedly denounced ongoing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt" that has not produced evidence in well over a year.

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