Putin: ‘Read my lips,’ election interference claims are lies

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he was “confident” Russia did not interfere in last year’s U.S. presidential election, quoting a former American president’s infamous promise.

Asked if Russia meddled in the election, Putin replied, “Read my lips: No.” 

He cited former President Reagan in his quote, though “read my lips” was actually former President George H.W. Bush’s 1988 campaign pledge not to raise taxes.

{mosads}”All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies. All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside,” Putin added at a panel of world leaders. 

The comments come as the Senate Intelligence Committee readies its investigation into election interference later Thursday and a week after the House began its probe. The U.S. intelligence community formally accused Russia of meddling nearly six months ago. 

Putin shook off the assessment of the intelligence agencies, proposing that the sooner the U.S. accepted his version of events, the sooner the two nations could begin a valuable alliance. 

“[We know many Americans are] friendly towards the Russian Federation and I’d like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations,” said Putin. 

Intelligence agencies around the world, including Germany and nations throughout Eastern Europe, have independently determined that political breaches in their countries were perpetrated by Russia, dating back well before the Democratic National Committee breach.  

The CNBC-moderated panel took place at the International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk, Russia. It also featured Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.