Former MI6 Chief Says Doubts Russia Altered US 2016 Presidential Election Results

Former head of the UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Sir Richard Dearlove said on Monday that he did not think Russia had the ability to change the outcome of the US 2016 presidential election.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2018) Former head of the UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Sir Richard Dearlove said on Monday that he did not think Russia had the ability to change the outcome of the US 2016 presidential election.

Although Moscow might have been able to use technology to influence the election, "I don't think the impact was such as to change the result," Dearlove said at the Cliveden Literary Festival as quoted by The Times newspaper.

The former intelligence chief added that he did not think US President Donald Trump was being "manipulated" by Russia and said he was also "pretty skeptical" that Moscow meddled in the Brexit referendum, as was claimed by some UK politicians.

The office of US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been conducting a probe into Russia's alleged involvement in the 2016 presidential race.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the allegations of interference, calling them absurd, while Trump has labeled Mueller's investigation "a witch hunt."