Russian media reacts to Mueller report, blames Democrats for trying to hurt Trump campaign and demonizing Moscow
The Russian media reacted to the submission of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian agents and said that the findings vindicated Kremlin's denial of any collusion.
The state media claimed that the collusion allegations had been the "conspiracy theories" of "maniacs," and reiterated President Donald Trump's claims that the investigation was an "illegal takedown" and that the Republican had been "totally exonerated," the Daily Mail reported.
A headline from the TASS news agency about the findings read: "Mueller’s report confirms no collusion between Moscow and Trump campaign."
The Kremlin, however, made it clear that it needed time before issuing an official statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said late on Sunday in Moscow: "We have not read the report." While Putin's close ally Alexey Pushkov took to Twitter to write: "It was clear even BEFORE the Mueller report. From the very start it was biased, artificial, provocative, conspiratorial, designed-to-fuel-hatred towards the Trump campaign."
"Its second goal was to demonize Russia and prevent any US moves towards better relations with Moscow," the tweet added. Pushkov also hit back at criticism of Mueller in the US, claiming that the special counsel had "colluded with Putin."
"There was a 'huge field for the new crazy conspiracy theories. Mueller did not find any evidence of Trump’s secret deal with Moscow," he said. "But Democrats will keep shouting that the secret deal took place. Maniacs of conspiracy theories do not need facts – they need to escalate the tension and to score their points with it. It has already been stated that Trump influenced Mueller in some invisible way. Circus. The mountain has labored and brought forth a tiny dead mouse."
Reports state that the state-controlled NTV channel ran eight headlines on the story on its website as one of them read: "Mueller confirmed absence of secret deal between Moscow and Trump’s campaign office." The channel's report stressed: "Trump is guilty of nothing, even according to Mueller."
The former chief of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev attacked the US political system, claiming that flaws emerged because the president was not chosen directly but instead through an electoral college.