Russian president Vladimir Putin took time during his annual pre-Christmas press conference to praise President Trump, with whom he claims to be on a first name basis, and again dismiss evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election by calling it a result of spymania ginned up by Trump's political opponents.
“I‘m not the one to evaluate the president’s work. That needs to be done by the voters, the American people,” Putin told his annual news conference in Moscow, in answer to a question.
“(But) we are objectively seeing that there have been some major accomplishments, even in the short time he has been working. Look at how the markets have grown. This speaks to investors’ trust in the American economy.”
Addressing the issue of contact between Russian operatives and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, Putin tried to paint such communication as business as usual:
“What did someone see that was egregious about this? Why does it all have to take on some tint of spymania?,” said Putin.
“This is all invented by people who oppose Trump to give his work an illegitimate character. The people who do this are dealing a blow to the state of (U.S.) domestic politics,” he added, saying the accusations were disrespectful to U.S. voters.
NYT:
On the collusion question, Mr. Putin essentially echoed President Trump, saying the accusations were an invention of enemies who wanted to reverse the election results. Any contacts with Russian diplomats or other officials were normal, he said, and suggesting otherwise is “spy hysteria.”
“This is all made up by people who oppose Trump to make his work look illegitimate,” Mr. Putin said, adding that there is a “deep state” in the United States that fosters hostility toward Moscow: “Do they want to ban all contact?”
Putin said he hopes Trump still wants to cooperate with him on the two nations' "common interests" such as "the Middle East, North Korea, international terrorism, environmental problems and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Putin says U.S. gripped by fabricated spymania, praises Trump (Reuters)
‘Are You Normal?’ Putin Asks U.S. Congress in Annual News Gathering (NYT)