Putin: Russia never interferes in internal affairs of other states, which makes it markedly different from U.S
MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) - Russia has never interfered in international affairs of other states, including the EU, which makes it markedly different from Washington and some of its allies, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera ahead of his visit to Rome.
"The absurd reached its apogee when Russia was accused of interfering in the American elections. We know well how this story ended - with a zilch. And the findings of the Mueller committee that there had been no such collusion were not surprising - the committee failed to scrape up any evidence since there could be no evidence in principle," Putin said.
"But here is the interesting part: the sanctions imposed against our country under the pretext of those accusations are still in effect," he said.
"All the speculations about Russia's interference in the electoral processes in the European Union are of the same kind. They were persistently spread on the eve of the European elections, as if to give the Europeans a 'hint' that it was 'Russia's malicious interference' which was to blame for such low results of certain political forces in the elections," Putin said.
"Besides, the authors of such assumptions pursued the same objective - to continue 'demonizing' Russia in the eyes of ordinary Europeans," he said.
"Let me emphasize: we have never interfered in the internal affairs of the European Union member states or any other states and we are not going to. This is what makes us markedly different from the US and some of its allies which, for instance, supported the coup d'etat in Ukraine in February 2014," Putin said.
"We are interested in restoring full-fledged interaction between Russia and the EU and maintaining peace, security and stability on the continent we share. We are ready for constructive collaboration with all political forces that received mandate from European voters," he said.