During a tense appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied on Tuesday that Moscow ever interferes in elections in other countries. Speaking during a joint news conference following talks at his Black Sea residence, Putin said accusations of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election were ‘‘simply rumors’’ that were being used as part of the political fight in Washington. He also denied interfering in European elections. US intelligence agencies say they have definitive evidence that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic e-mail accounts, with the aim of benefiting Donald Trump’s campaign and harming his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Merkel said she was confident that Germany can weather any disinformation campaign targeting Germany’s upcoming election. Asked about the threat during the news conference, she cited two recent incidents of what she described as ‘‘gross misinformation.’’
In one instance, Russian state media and the foreign minister claimed that a 13-year-old girl of Russian origin had been kidnapped and raped by asylum-seekers in Berlin, and that German authorities were covering up the case. Police later determined the girl had made up the kidnapping, though a man in his 20s was charged with sexual abuse of a minor because she was below the age of consent.
Merkel said Germany would take ‘‘decisive measures’’ if it believed there was foreign meddling in the election, adding it was well-known that ‘‘hybrid warfare plays a role in Russia’s military doctrine.’’
Full Article: Putin, Merkel spar in Russia over election meddling – The Boston Globe.