Kremlin rejects 'absurd' US accusations of election meddling

By Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed as absurd U.S. intelligence assertions that Russia is seeking to meddle in the presidential election and said that U.S. spies were intent on casting Russia as an enemy.

U.S. intelligence said that Russia remains the "predominant threat" to U.S. elections and that Moscow is using a complex arsenal of tools to back one of the candidates and sow divisions.

"As for these accusations, they are absurd, and we strongly reject them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the reports from Washington.

"There will be a lot of such statements as the U.S. elections approach because Russia and the head of the Russian state personally are essentially significant factors that both Republicans and Democrats exploit during their political struggle, especially in the election campaign," said Peskov.

President Vladimir Putin had yet to comment in public on Joe Biden's exit from the election race.

Putin had suggested in the past that, for Russia, Biden was preferable to Donald Trump, though it was unclear if he was being serious or sarcastic.

The Kremlin has been cautious about Kamala Harris, saying that the vice president had made no discernable contribution to relations with Moscow beyond some unfriendly rhetoric.

ELECTION MEDDLING?

Comments by a senior U.S. intelligence official indicated that U.S. intelligence expects foreign actors to refocus their influence operations on Harris.

"Moscow is leveraging Russia-based influence-for-hire firms to shape public opinion in the United States, including with election-related operations," the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.

"These firms have created influence platforms, directly and discreetly engaged Americans, and used improved tools to tailor content for U.S. audiences, while hiding Russia's hand."

The Kremlin said attempting to draw Russia into the election campaign was damaging to relations - and that U.S. intelligence was intent on casting Russia as an enemy.

"Each time the exploitation of Russia and Putin in the internal political struggle in America causes more and more harm, irreparable harm to bilateral Russian-American relations," Peskov said.

"The US intelligence community, let's say, has succumbed to fashionable trends in domestic politics - they also need to look for enemies and Americans cannot come up with better enemies than Russia."

Previous U.S. intelligence assessments have found that Moscow tried to meddle in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Russian officials have suggested that the United States has also meddled in its domestic affairs.

(Writing by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Andrew Osborn and Conor Humphries)