MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The allegations that alleged spy Oleg Smolenkov provided information on alleged Russian interference in U.S. elections are a heap of lies and slander, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax on Wednesday.
"He could not have played any role in the so-called interference by definition because there was no interference. And what is happening in such interpretations is just a heap of lies and multiplication of slander against us," Ryabkov said, commenting on the Western media reports stating that Smolenkov played a key role in the "exposure" of alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
"Unfortunately, it is one of the gravest consequences of what happened in Russian-U.S. dialogue and in Russian-U.S. relations in the past few years, when our colleagues in Washington not only ignore obvious things, but they are rewritten and reformatted beyond recognition to secure their interests, including domestic policy interests," Ryabkov said.