'Where is the proof?' Putin furiously DENIES 'farcical' claims Russia was behind cyberattacks in the US and says he's 'surprised' he hasn't been blamed for Black Lives Matter along with the list of 'unfounded accusations'
Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to try to pick apart U.S. claims on a media tour in advance of his summit with President Biden – denying in an interview airing Monday that Russia engaged in cyber attacks and saying there was no proof it interfered in U.S. elections.
'Where is the evidence? Where is proof? It's becoming farcical,' Putin said in a sit-down interview with NBC News from Moscow.
'We have been accused of all kinds of things - election interference, cyberattacks and so on and so forth - and not once, not once, not one time, did they bother to produce any kind of evidence or proof, just unfounded accusations,' he told the network's Kier Simmons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with NBC sharply dismissed allegations that his country is carrying out cyberattacks against the United States as baseless
'I'm surprised that we have not yet been accused of – provoking the Black Lives Matter movement. That would have been a good line of attack. But ...' Putin said, ridiculing the attack.
Then he waded further into U.S. domestic politics, saying: 'We have always treated with understanding the fight of African Americans for their rights,' but said he couldn't approve of any 'extreme' actions associated with the movement.
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team issued detailed indictments for Russian intelligence operatives accused of 2016 election interference. But Russia didn't hand over the alleged hackers, and they have not stood trial.
The U.S. government has said Russia may be housing cyber hackers who carried out the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, but has not said it was a government operation.
U.S. intelligence does assess that Russia interfered in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Putin's comments come as Biden kicked off the NATO summit in Brussels by saying Russia and China had not acted 'in a way that is consistent with what we had hoped.'
Putin once again sought to deflect U.S. pressure to respect opposition groups by bringing up the arrest of hundreds who took part in the Capitol riot in Washington
Biden kicked off the NATO summit in Brussels by saying Russia and China had not acted 'in a way that is consistent with what we had hoped'
Former President Donald Trump (L) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 11, 2017
Putin denied Russia was behind ransomware hacking like the attack on Colonial Pipeline
Putin once again brought up Capitol rioters when pressed on Russia's treatment of the political opposition
Putin once again sought to undermine a U.S. push the Kremlin to respect press freedoms and allow a sphere for political opponents to exist – by bringing up U.S. prosecution of rioters who stormed the Capitol Jan. 6th.
Putin, who is to meet President Joe Biden at a summit Wednesday, has suggested that the hundreds of people arrested for rioting at the U.S. Capitol are being subjected to 'persecution for political opinions.'
Charging documents reveal many of those who have been arrested were carrying sticks and poles, attacked police officers, or broke through windows to enter the seat of legislative power.
Putin is likely to come under strong criticism from Biden at their meeting in Geneva for moves against his political opponents in Russia, particularly the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the detention of thousands of demonstrators protesting his arrest, and the outlawing of Navalny´s organizations as extremist.
The two men shared an awkward fist bump ahead of their private sit down, where President Erdogan will tell Biden his disappointment that the US recognized Armenian genocide
President Joe Biden greets Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a plenary session at a NATO summit in Brussels
French President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks with President Joe Biden (R) next to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a plenary session at a NATO summit in Brussels
Anticipating that Biden will raise issues of human rights and the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Putin said: 'You are presenting it as dissent and intolerance towards dissent in Russia. We view it completely differently.'
He then pointed to the Jan. 6 unrest in Washington when protesters barged into the Capitol to try to halt the count of electoral votes to certify Biden´s election victory over Donald Trump.
'Do you know that 450 individuals were arrested after entering the Congress? ... They came there with political demands,' he said.
Putin also reiterated denials that the Kremlin was behind last year's poisoning of Navalny with a nerve agent that nearly killed him.
'We don't have this kind of habit, of assassinating anybody,' Putin said.
'Did you order the assassination of the woman who walked into the Congress and who was shot and killed by a policeman?' Putin said, referring to Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb through a window that led to the House floor.
In April, the United States announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and new sanctions connected to the so-called SolarWinds cyberattack in which several U.S. government branches experienced data breaches. U.S. officials blamed the Russian foreign intelligence service.
In May, Microsoft officials said the foreign intelligence service appeared to be linked to an attack on a company providing services to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
