Russia ridicules US intelligence hacking report

The Russian government has given its first response to the US intelligence community report about alleged Russian interference in the US Presidential election.  The response comes from Russian President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov (pictured), who is reported to have said the following

We understand that our US colleagues underwent such stages of a witch-hunt in different stages of their history.  We know that they are later replaced by more sober specialists with more sober approaches but still oriented at a dialogue rather than emotional convulsions.  [The part of the report that was published] was apparently very adapted.  This publication did not add any substance for comments.

(bold italics added)

In other words, the Russians consider the report too insubstantial to make it worthwhile for them to comment on it.  Peskov did however reiterate the Russian government’s denial that Russia was in any way involved in the hacking.

Emphasising how insubstantial the Russians consider the report to be, Peskov refused to say whether President Putin himself had read it (he undoubtedly has) implying it would be a waste of Putin’s time to do so

In the part in which the report was published, certainly, this was accessible for everyone, including the Russian president, but I repeat once again: the published part arouses nothing but disappointment.  There was nothing in this report that deserved to be read in detail.

Peskov’s comments, and the dismissive attitude to the report of the Russian government, reflect general opinion across the political spectrum in Russia.  The overwhelming bulk of reporting even by anti-government and pro-opposition media has been dismissive of the.  The combination of an absence of evidence in the report and its numerous actual errors about Russia made such a response inevitable.