Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a pact with the United States to avoid interfering in each other’s elections and other domestic affairs.
Putin cited what he called the “risk of large-scale confrontation in the digital sphere,” according to a Kremlin statement Friday.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed members of Congress about what it said were active attempts by Russia, China, Iran and other nations to undermine the 2020 U.S. election set to take place in November.
U.S. intelligence agencies earlier concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Other Western governments have also accused Russia of utilizing both hackers and social media disinformation campaigns to undermine their elections. Russia has denied the accusations.
Putin's statement, which was read aloud by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a video released by the ministry, comes amid Kremlin accusations that Western countries are mounting a "disinformation" campaign against Russia over last month’s poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Siberia.
