Russia, US relations being hindered by Washington political games

 
During an interview with Fox News on Monday, Putin referred to a probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russia's election meddling as "political games."

"Don't make the relationship between Russia and the United States, don't hold it hostage of this internal political struggle," he added.

"It's quite clear to me that this is just an internal political struggle and it's nothing to be proud of for American democracy to use such dirty methods and political rivalry," he added.

Putin further noted that accusations pertaining to Russia meddling in US elections were ridiculous, while stressing that it was not possible for someone acting from the Russian territory to be able to influence choice of millions of people in another country.

Putin made the remarks shortly after his summit with US President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland.

Last week, Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials in connection with the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Mueller, a former FBI director, has been running a high-profile investigation into allegations that Trump won the 2016 US presidential election against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton only because Moscow had rigged the election in his favor.

US intelligence agencies claim Russia-linked hackers provided WikiLeaks with damaging information -- in the form of thousands of hacked emails -- about Clinton to skew the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.

Trump has repeatedly denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and has condemned the investigations. Russian President Putin has also denied the allegations.

KD