Putin rejects claims of Russian interference in US election
President Vladimir Putin has said the claims of Russia's interference in the US presidential election are designed to distract public attention from real issues.
The United States has accused Russia of coordinating the hacks of Hillary Clinton's campaign emails to influence the outcome of the election.
Speaking to international foreign policy experts in Sochi, President Putin dismissed "the hysteria about Russia's influence on the US presidential election".
He argued that US elites have used the "mythical and fictitious" issue to distract attention from real problems such as government debt and police violence.
President Putin disputed that the US is "some kind of 'banana republic'" that could be susceptible to Russia's influence, calling America "a great power".
He also said it's equally "ridiculous" to allege that Russia has aggressive military intentions.
He called the claim that Russia favours Donald Trump in the race as "sheer nonsense" that has served as a campaign tool.
President Putin added that it is not clear what stance the next US president will take toward Russia, but added that Moscow welcomes campaign statements about normalising ties.
"We will work with any president who will be elected by the American people," he said.
President Putin also asserted that the rise of popularity of nationalist parties in Europe was rooted in a widening gap between elites and the regular citizens, not the influence of Russian propaganda as many in the West have suggested.
"I would like to have such propaganda machine in Russia, but, regrettably, there is no such thing," President Putin said with a note of sarcasm. "We don't have such global media as CNN, BBC and others."
He also shrugged off allegations that Russia harbours aggressive military intentions in Europe.
"Of course, it's quite pleasant and sometimes advantageous to cast oneself as a defender of civilization from some kind of new barbarians, but Russia has no intention to attack anyone," he said.
"It's plain ridiculous."
Russia-West relations have plummeted to their lowest point since the Cold War era amid the Ukrainian crisis and differences over the war in Syria.
The US and the European Union have imposed economic sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for a pro-Russia insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
The US and its Nato allies have deployed their forces in the Baltics and Poland in response to Russia's moves.
Moscow has described the deployments as a threat to its security and pledged to respond in kind.
Speaking at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Washington has no doubts of direct Russian involvement in the hacking.
"The president would not have authorised a release of the assessment to the intelligence community if we didn't feel that it was serious and also if we didn't feel that it was certain," he said.
He also said separately in a CNN podcast that "the goal is to be disruptive, to interfere with our system, and be as annoying as people feel it is".
Mr Kerry said he has confronted Russian counterparts such as foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the matter.
"Their response is to demand the evidence and to ask for it," he said. "And my response to that is, 'Let's not be foolish here. You know what we're talking about.'"
