Russian senators have resurfaced accusations that the United States interferes in foreign elections less than two weeks before the presidential vote in the country.
Although Vladimir Putin is expected to easily secure a fourth presidential term in the March 18 vote, high-level Russian officials have stepped up warnings of U.S.-led election meddling. Russia itself has been accused of hacking and interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a charge that the Kremlin denies.
The Federation Council’s commission on the protection of state sovereignty said Monday that it had “proven” that the U.S. consistently and illegally interfered in the affairs of other states since the UN Charter was adopted after World War II.
“The commission has identified at least 120 cases of such American acts from 1946 to 2017 against more than 60 UN member-states on all continents,” it said in an 83-page report.
“The U.S. often implemented this type of activity [through military and non-military means] with the help of their junior partners, as well as international organizations dependent on them (especially NATO),” the commission said.
A Carnegie Mellon University study published last month said that, between 1946 and 2000, the United States interfered in 81 elections while the Soviet Union and Russia interfered in 36 elections.
Earlier on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow had evidence of U.S. attempts to interfere in Russia's coming presidential election, but did not say what that evidence was.
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