Updated February 20, 2018 00:59:54

Photo: The Kremlin have repeatedly denied any involvement in President Trump's election win. (Reuters/Sputnik: Mikhail Klimentyev)

The Kremlin has responded to US charges against 13 Russians and three Russian companies accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election campaign, saying they contained zero proof of Russian state involvement.

The comments were the Kremlin's first reaction to charges drawn up by the office of US Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The indictment, released on Friday, said that a Russian propaganda arm oversaw a criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper in the 2016 US presidential campaign to support Donald Trump and disparage Hillary Clinton.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had noted that the US indictment centred on individuals rather than the Russian state and presented no tangible proof that the Kremlin itself or Russian government agencies were involved.

"They are talking about Russian citizens, but we have heard in announcements from Washington accusations about the involvement of the Russian state, the Kremlin and the Russian government," Mr Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

It began as a Cold War-like attack, but soon morphed into modern "information warfare". This is what we learned from Robert Mueller's indictment of 13 Russian nationals.

"There are no indications that the Russian state could have been involved in this and nor can there be any.

"Russia did not meddle, does not have the habit of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, and is not doing so now."

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied allegations Russia tried to influence the 2016 election to help Mr Trump win the White House, casting such allegations as part of an anti-Russian campaign in the United States.

Mr Peskov said that such accusations were baseless and unfair.

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Mr Kislyak before Mr Trump's inauguration.

The charges brought by Mr Mueller are seen as a major development in the ongoing collusion probe.

But the indictment remains silent on the question of whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Mr Trump, who has previously denounced Mr Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt", said the indictment proved his campaign was in the clear.

"Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President," he wrote on Twitter.

"The results of the election were not impacted."

Reuters

Topics: world-politics, donald-trump, us-elections, electoral-fraud, russian-federation, united-states

First posted February 20, 2018 00:00:41