Russia Accuses US Of 'Meddling' In Kremlin Election

A senior Russian diplomat claimed Moscow was aware the United States was trying to meddle in the Kremlin’s election.

Speaking after a briefing on the issue, Andrey Nesterenko, a senior Russian diplomat, said the U.S. “certainly does” attempt to meddle in the Russian electoral processes, RT reported.

“Our collective opinion is that electoral sovereignty is a principle that all civilized nations should respect,” the diplomat said, adding Moscow will notify “our American partners that the actions of their media outlets allow us to state that they are close to breaking Russian law.”

This statement was following the actions of Alexei Anatolievich Navalny, a Russian lawyer and political activist who attempted to run against Russian President Vladimir Putin this year before being arrested and sentenced to 30 days in prison in May for attending an unsanctioned protest against the president.

He was also accused of promoting another illegal event using paid ads on Google services like YouTube. The protest event in question was supposed to take place Sunday — the same day Moscow and other Russian states were scheduled to hold mayoral elections, which is banned by Russian law.

Following Navalny’s actions, Google was notified by The Russian Central Election Commission, media watchdog Roskomnadzor (RKN), and the Russian Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) that its platform was being used to conduct improper political activities in Russia.

“Living in a proper law-abiding nation, we expect every actor to play by the rules. Especially an informed player. If the opposite happens, I believe we have tools at our disposal [to address that],” Andrey Kashevarov, the deputy head of FAS, said.

Just a day ago, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said the U.S. had been trying to meddle in Russian affairs for as far as the last two years.

Commenting on a recently story published in the New York Times, Peskov said between 2014 and 2016, the FBI and the US Department of Justice tried to recruit Russian business tycoon Oleg Deripaska as an informant to try and retrieve information regarding Russian organized crime and the alleged Russian aid to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, another RT report said.

According to Peskov, Deripaska was a “major shareholders and top managers of major companies,” including those operating in “quite sensitive segments of the Russian economy,” and hence, the U.S. federal government attempting to recruit him as an informant could be seen as “attempts to meddle in Russia’s domestic affairs.”

Although the U.S. indicted 13 Russian nationals and three entities in June by building a campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which boosted President Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2016 U.S. election, the Kremlin has denied such allegations.

Putin even went as far as ridiculing the idea Russia could change the opinion of U.S. voters.

“Does anyone seriously think that Russia can somehow influence the choice of the American people?” Putin said back in 2016. “Is America some sort of a banana republic? America is a great state. Correct me, please, if I’m wrong.”