The Kremlin snapped back Tuesday at allegations that Russia hacked the Democratic party’s email database to sway the U.S. election—without denying the Russian government was behind the attack.
“I don’t want to use four-letter words,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said when a Western journalist asked him to comment on the hack, according to RIA, a state-run news site. The report did not include any explicit denial of the allegations.
Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters he discussed the breach with Lavrov in Laos Tuesday. The secretary refrained from saying who was responsible due to the ongoing FBI investigation into the hack.
“The FBI is investigating the incident and it’s important for the FBI to do its work,” Kerry said. “I raised the question and we will continue to work to see precisely what those facts are.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also brushed off the accusations as an “old trick” that was “not very good for bilateral relations” between Russia and America, TASS reported. He denied allegations of a government-led DNC hack two weeks ago.
“We are observing these maniacal attempts to exploit the Russian theme in the U.S. election,” Peskov said. “These absurd reports were immediately rejected by the family of a well-known presidential candidate.”
Peskov also denied reports of a meeting between Trump’s Russia adviser Carter Page and Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergey Ivanov.
“[Ivanov] said that he will not comment on such crazy reports,” Peskov said.
A tranche of thousands of emails appeared on Wikileaks Friday, just days before the Democratic National Convention began. The controversy over some emails, which revealed attempts by Democratic officials to tilt the election in favor of Hillary Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders, resulted in the resignation of Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The FBI and intelligence experts have claimed that the hack was Russian-borne.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook argued that the breach occurred in collusion with Trump, who has been pushing for “changes to the Republican platform to make it more pro-Russian.” Trump suggested conditional support for NATO allies last week when asked about a hypothetical Russian attack on the Baltic states.
“I don’t think it’s coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that’s disturbing,” Mook said on CNN Sunday.
The Trump campaign has dismissed the allegations.
Update: A previous version of this report translated Lavrov’s remarks from Russian, when he originally answered in English.
