Putin: Allegations of Russian Meddling in U.S. Elections ‘Fictional, Illusory and Provocations, Lies’

Thursday during a panel discussion moderated by CNBC at the International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed allegations his government interfered in last year’s presidential election.

Putin said the charges were being used as a tool for “domestic American political agendas.”

“[W]e said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident and positive and know for sure that opinion polls in the United States show that very many people are friendly towards the Russian Federation, and I’d like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations,” Putin said. “All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies. All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside.”