Putin: ‘Read my lips,’ there was no Russian meddling in U.S. vote

Calling the accusations “lies,” Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday denied that Moscow meddled in last year’s U.S. elections.

“Read my lips, no,” Putin said during a panel moderated by CNBC, according to a report on the news agency’s website.

“All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies,” the Russian president said. “All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside.”

Putin’s comments came as the Senate Intelligence Committee was set to begin a hearing entitled “Disinformation: A Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence Campaigns,” which will focus on understanding the method of Russia’s active disinformation campaign and assess the extent of Moscow’s interference.

FBI Director James Comey confirmed earlier this month that his agency was investigating Russia’s intrusion into the 2016 poll and whether there was any collusion between Moscow and Donald Trump’s campaign.

Trump has called the accusations a “hoax.”

During the CNBC panel, which was reportedly moderated by the network’s co-anchor Geoff Cutmore at the International Arctic Forum in the Russian city of Arkhangelsk, Russia, Putin declared his respect for America.

“I’d like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations,” Putin said, according to the news network.