Putin: Russia doesn’t hack but “patriotic” individuals might
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that some “patriotic” individuals may have engaged in hacking but insisted Russia as a country has never done it, and he pledged Thursday to wait out U.S. political battles to forge constructive ties with President Donald Trump.
The Russian leader lamented what he described as “Russo-phobic hysteria” in the U.S. that makes it “somewhat inconvenient to work with one another or even to talk,” adding that “someday this will have to stop.”
U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Russia of hacking into Democratic Party emails, helping Trump’s election victory, and the congressional and FBI investigations into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia have shattered Moscow’s hopes for a detente with Washington.
Speaking at a meeting with senior editors of leading international news agencies, Putin insisted that “we never engage in that at the state level.”