Russia's 'Meddling' In US Election Did Not Influence Results, Caused Distrust - Bolton

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Tuesday that Russia's meddling into the US election did not influence the result of the election, but hampered US-Russian dialogue.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2018) US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Tuesday that Russia's meddling into the US election did not influence the result of the election, but hampered US-Russian dialogue.

"It's the effort alone to interfere in our election that is objectionable. The fact was that the outcome would have been exactly the same, by all the evidence we have. And if there were evidence that were contrary, we would have heard it by now. What the meddling did create was distrust and animosity within the United States, and it particularly made it almost impossible for two years for the United States and Russia to make progress diplomatically," Bolton told reporters at a press conference following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"We have two weeks to go until the [midterm] election, I hope there isn't any meddling at all," he stressed.

The United States has repeatedly accused Moscow of meddling in the 2016 election. Russia has refuted all allegations of interfering with the vote, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that such accusations are absolutely unfounded. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in turn, argued that no evidence had been provided to substantiate the allegations. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured Washington that Russia did not meddle in the election.