Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denounced what he called "hysteria" in the U.S. political establishment and media over Russia's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election and said it is harming ties between the two global powers.
"This, I would say, emotional extremism of trying to make a toxic country out of Russia, to make a toxic ambassador out of Russia's ambassador. This is something unbelievable, actually. And I don’t think it at all corresponds with our national interests -- I mean both the interests of the United States and Russia," he told CNN on March 6.
"All this...hysteria in official Washington, hysteria in American media, this is doing lots of harm to the future of our bilateral relationship," he said. "The sooner we’ll start to talk, the better for both countries."
Peskov said it is "unimaginable" that a strong nation like the United States would fear being so "weak" that an outside power could attempt to influence its political history and government as U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia did by hacking and releasing Democratic Party e-mails during the election.