Redacted Mueller Report Still Has No Proof Of Russia's Alleged Election Meddling - Kremlin

The redacted version of the Mueller report, published yesterday in the United States, contains no new information or proof of Russia's alleged interference in the US 2016 election, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th April, 2019) The redacted version of the Mueller report, published yesterday in the United States, contains no new information or proof of Russia's alleged interference in the US 2016 election, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

On Thursday, Mueller released the report, which said there was no evidence of any collusion between Russia and US President Donald Trump or his team during the 2016 US presidential campaign. The report, however, did not exonerate Trump of obstruction charges and concluded that Russia did try to interfere in the US election on his behalf.

"The Mueller report does not contain any new information in the form in which it has been published. All this information has appeared before via different sources and in different media in one way or another. On the whole, the report still does not have any kind of substantiated evidence that Russia allegedly interfered in the US electoral process," Peskov said.

He stressed that Russia did not accept the accusations of alleged interference.

"From the very beginning of this investigation, we have been saying that whatever the investigators were doing, they would not find any interference. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has also said so. For there was no interference. Actually, the publication is another confirmation of it. We regret that documents of such poor quality have a direct impact on the Russian-US relations, which are already not at their best," the spokesman added.

"Speaking less seriously, our Accounts Chamber would probably be interested in such a report.

What the US taxpayers' money has been spent on? But let the US taxpayers themselves ask these questions," he added.

According to Mueller report, a number of Russian businessmen, including Alfa-Bank head Petr Aven, the Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev and Vnesheconombank Chairman Sergei Gorkov had contacts with the US side. In particular, media reported that, according to the report, Aven testified that he promised Putin to try to establish communication with the Trump administration.

Peskov stressed that Putin held separate meetings with major Russian businessmen, including Aven, and this was a part of the president's work.

�"I do not know whether it is possible to say that [Putin met Aven] regularly, every quarter, but, of course, he [Aven] had separate meetings with Putin ... That can be several meetings during the year, that is not sort of exclusive meetings, it is a common practice that Putin meets with major businessmen who run businesses with large social pressure and having particular importance for the country's economy," Peskov said, adding that such meetings were a typical element of Putin's work.

Russia has repeatedly refuted claims of interfering in the US political system, saying the allegations were made up to excuse the election loss of a presidential candidate as well as to deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.