WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The US Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday alleged that Russia engaged in an aggressive, multi-pronged effort to influence the result of the 2016 US presidential election.
The report claimed that Trump 2016 election campaign chairman Paul Manafort carried out influence operations in Ukraine for the Russian government for five years from 2004 to 2009 under the direction of billionaire Oleg Deripaska.
Manafort worked closely with an identified Russian intelligence officer who managed his office through the 2016 US elections, the report alleged.
“Manafort hired and worked increasingly closely with a Russian national, Konstantin Kilimnik. Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer. Kilimnik became an integral part of Manafort’s operations in Ukraine and Russia, serving as Manafort’s primary liaison to Deripaska and eventually managing Manafort’s office in Kiev. Kilimnik and Manafort formed a close and lasting relationship that endured to the 2016 US elections and beyond,” the report said.
Hillary Clinton, then-Democratic presidential candidate, speaking at a campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky in May 2016.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hack of Democratic Party computer networks to find and leak information damaging to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, the report also claimed.
WikiLeaks played an important part in the Russian attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election and its leaders probably were aware they were working with Kremlin intelligence, the report also alleged.
Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in the US political system, saying the allegations have been invented to excuse the loss of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.
US President Donald Trump has long called the attempts to insinuate collusion with Russia a baseless political witch-hunt intended to reverse the result of the 2016 US election.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
