US midterms won’t change ‘bad’ Russia-US relations, says Kremlin

MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that US midterm elections would not improve the “bad” relations between Moscow and Washington, as it dismissed allegations that Russia was meddling in the US vote, Russian state media reported.

“These elections are important, but it’s not necessary to exaggerate their importance in the short and medium-term for our relations,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters.

“These elections cannot change anything essential. Relations still are, and will remain, bad,” he added.

Mr Peskov said Moscow was so used to hearing people say that

Russia interferes in US elections

that it was not paying any attention to new rounds of allegations.

Relations between Russia and the United States have hit a historic low since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February.

The Kremlin spokesman also told reporters that it was too early to talk about a dialogue with the US on extending the New Start nuclear arms treaty.

Moscow and Washington in February

extended their New Start treaty,

which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads they can deploy as well as limits the land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them, for five years. REUTERS, AFP