Kremlin members on Washington list amid meddling “farce”

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Europe

By CGTN’s The Point

The US Treasury Department on Monday released its so-called “Kremlin Report” in which Russian officials including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and billionaires close to the government are listed, reflecting the ongoing “farce” of Washington’s accusation of Russia’s US election meddling in 2016.

“It’s the aftermath of 2016 [US] election, and the law president [Trump] was forced to sign to investigate the Russia meddling,” said Douglas Smith, former assistant secretary at US Department of Homeland Security, adding that he is not surprised at the “naming and shaming” list where Kremlin’s “inner circle members” are on it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin jokingly regretted not having been named on the list, calling Washington’s move an “unfriendly act.” Meanwhile, Medvedev on Tuesday shrugged off the document as “zero” despite that it includes 96 out of 210 people who are believed to be “oligarchs” with a wealth of 1 billion US dollars or more.

“Any oligarchs in any countries are close to the government because they will not be oligarchs otherwise,” Alexander Nekrassov, former Kremlin advisor, argued with confusion about the “game” Washington plays.

Smith said there is overwhelming evidence showing Russia’s intervention, noting that the “game” now is focused on whether Trump campaign’s “directly asking” or “knowing without stopping.”

However, Nekrassov insisted that there hasn’t been yet any substantial evidence proving Russia’s election meddling.

“For the intelligence services in America to come up with rubbish and then claimed they have secret information about the meddling,” Nekrassov questioned. “I’m sorry this is not evidence.”

He said the way those FBI “documents” pinpointing Moscow’s behavior was either provocation or attempt to cover up the US Democrat’s failure in the election.

“The Democrats have taken a lot of money in the [presidential] campaign from foreigners, and now they have to explain why they used this money and nothing happened,” he went on. “This is why they’re playing this game, and this is the main reason why this whole Russian meddling in the election is going on. It’s a farce!”

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