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US poll hacking: Russia says MI6 ex-spy 'runaway crook' Russia's Putin calls leaked Trump memos 'utter nonsense'
(about 4 hours later)
The UK ex-spy said to be behind accusations of Russian hacking in favour of Donald Trump in the US is "some runaway crook from the MI6", Russia's foreign minister says. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described allegations his country holds compromising material on US President-elect Donald Trump as "utter nonsense".
Sergei Lavrov said Russia did not have to prove it was not behind the hacking. Mr Putin questioned what reason Russian intelligence would have had to spy on Mr Trump before he entered politics.
Ex-UK spy Christopher Steele is said to have prepared memos published last week alleging Mr Trump's election team colluded with Russia which also had salacious videos of his private life. He said those making the allegations were "worse than prostitutes".
Mr Trump says the claims are "fake". Memos published last week alleged Mr Trump's election team colluded with Russia which also had salacious videos of his private life.
Mr Steele, who runs a London-based intelligence firm, was highly regarded by his bosses when he worked for the British foreign spy agency MI6, sources have told the BBC. The allegations claim Russia has damaging information about the US president-elect's business interests, and that Mr Trump had been filmed with prostitutes at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow during the Miss Universe pageant in 2013.
He has been widely named as the author of a series of memos - which have been published as a dossier in some US media. Mr Trump has dismissed the memos, said to have been prepared by a former British spy, as "fake news".
The allegations claim Russia has damaging information about the US president-elect's business interests, and salacious video evidence of his private life, including claims of using prostitutes at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow. Speaking in Moscow, Mr Putin also said the published documents were "clearly fakes", published by those trying to "undermine the legitimacy of the elected president".
"When Trump came to Moscow, he was not a political figure, we were not even aware of his political ambitions," Mr Putin said.
"Does somebody think that our secret services are chasing every American billionaire? Of course not. It is utter nonsense."
He added that he did not see why Mr Trump would rush to meet prostitutes in Moscow, given he was organising beauty pageants and meeting "the most beautiful women in the world".
"I find it hard to imagine he ran to a hotel to meet our girls of 'low social responsibility'... though they are of course also the best in the world. But I doubt Trump took that bait."
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the UK ex-spy said to have prepared the memos is "some runaway crook from the MI6".
Christopher Steele, who runs a London-based intelligence firm, was highly regarded by his bosses when he worked for the British foreign spy agency MI6, sources have told the BBC.
US intelligence agencies considered the claims relevant enough to brief both Mr Trump and President Barack Obama.US intelligence agencies considered the claims relevant enough to brief both Mr Trump and President Barack Obama.
Mr Trump accused US intelligence of leaking the content from a classified briefing - a claim denied by James Clapper, director of National Intelligence.Mr Trump accused US intelligence of leaking the content from a classified briefing - a claim denied by James Clapper, director of National Intelligence.
Asked by a German journalist during a news conference in Moscow, the Russian foreign minister said he was not going to prove why the allegations were "not true". Mr Putin also said reports that Russian hackers had interfered in the US election were "fake news", though he told people to keep in mind that "the hackers didn't make anything up - whoever they were - they just uncovered material".
"I thought that the presumption of innocence was in force in Germany as in other countries. So you prove it," Mr Lavrov said.
"These are convulsions of those who realise that their time is running out," Mr Lavrov said. "That is why various fakes are being fabricated."
The hacking scandal dominated the US election campaign, with US spy agencies concluding Russia was behind the hacking and release of Democratic Party emails intended to damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton.The hacking scandal dominated the US election campaign, with US spy agencies concluding Russia was behind the hacking and release of Democratic Party emails intended to damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
Russia has consistently denied it.Russia has consistently denied it.