icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
19 Oct, 2016 03:44

US presidential campaign has become ‘global shame’ – Russian FM spokeswoman

US presidential campaign has become ‘global shame’ – Russian FM spokeswoman

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said she believes the US presidential campaign is not worthy of the nation’s people, calling it a “catastrophe” and “simply some sort of a global shame” during a meeting with students on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Clinton camp calls WikiLeaks ‘Russian propaganda arm’ after damaging emails leak

Commenting on the heated 2016 presidential race in the US, Zakharova lamented that by accusing Moscow of mounting cyber-attacks with an alleged aim of meddling in American politics, Washington has turned Russia into a “real, serious factor of pre-election rhetoric.” 

“They are constantly saying that Russia is carrying out cyber-attacks on certain US facilities,” she said. Zakharova stressed that the US side provided no proof or any other data on the alleged hackers’ links to Moscow, which she says makes the allegations appear to be a “smokescreen” to cover up serious domestic issues.

READ MORE: Russia large & important country with big military, should be part of solution, not problem - Obama

According to the spokeswoman, this “public bickering on Russia” as well as “locker-room jokes” are “unworthy of a great power, [and] great people” of America.

“I simply believe that this campaign is not worthy of their people. As a person who was engaged in information technologies when studying at the university, I believe that this is a catastrophic campaign. May the colleagues of all kinds and countries forgive me, but I believe that this is simply some sort of a global shame,” Zakharova said at a meeting with students at the Moscow Aviation Institute, Life.ru reported.

READ MORE: ‘Arrogant’ Washington foreign policy thwarts common goals between US, Russia - Trump adviser

Earlier in October, the US government claimed it was “confident” that Russia was behind the hacking attacks on US officials and organizations, alleging that revelations by WikiLeaks, DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0. were directly authorized by the Russian government with the intention to “interfere with the US election process.”

“We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,” read the report, published by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The accusations were based on the fact that attacks “in most cases originated from servers operated by a Russian company.”

Moscow, for its part, completely dismissed the allegations, denying any involvement in the attacks. Commenting on the report, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov labeled the accusations “yet another fit of nonsense,” adding that while many cyber-attacks Russia faces on a daily basis can be traced back to US services, Russia refrains from calling US government responsible for cybercrimes.

Podcasts
0:00
28:18
0:00
25:17