Moscow on Thursday dismissed a CNN report that alleges Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak is an intelligence agent and spy recruiter. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Moscow on Thursday dismissed as "fake news" a CNN report that alleges Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak is an intelligence agent and spy recruiter, following new claims he met twice last year with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who did not report the meetings during his congressional confirmation process.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the claims are "bogus media speculations that keep fanning tensions."
"The only piece of advice that I can give is that in a situation like this, avoid reacting to all such anonymous, baseless fake news stories and rely only on official statements by genuine officials," Peskov said.
The Washington Post first reported on the meetings between Kislyak and Sessions while the former Republican senator from Alabama was acting as a surrogate for the Donald Trump campaign. CNN described the Russian diplomat as "a top spy and recruiter of spies," citing unnamed current and former intelligence officials.
Little information is publicly available indicating that Kislyak, a career diplomat, has worked for Russian intelligence services or has operated as a spy. Countries' intelligence services often operate out of their foreign embassies, with ambassadors traditionally aware of many of their activities.
Peskov on Thursday said he was baffled by the "highly emotional atmosphere" in the U.S. regarding the Trump team's interactions with Russia, dismissing it as reminiscent of the congressional investigations into U.S. citizen's connections to communism in the 1950s led by Sen. Joe McCarthy.
"But before making any evaluations, we should wait for everyone to calm down and the situation to stabilize," Peskov said.
Interactions with Russia have dogged Trump's team during the campaign and since he has assumed the presidency.
Discussions between with Kislyak and Trump's first national security adviser, Mike Flynn, prompted the president to ask for Flynn's resignation last month. The White House explained that Trump lost confidence in Flynn after the former general mischaracterized to Vice President Mike Pence meetings he had with the Russian diplomat between the election in November and before the January inauguration.
