The US says the Helsinki meeting will happen despite latest charges of Russian election interference
Donald Trump met with Queen Elizabeth II in Britain amid protests. Pics/AP and AFP
The Helsinki meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will take place on Monday, despite the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for interfering in the November 2016 presidential election, Washington said yesterday. "It's on," White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said. The charges were drawn up by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who is looking into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 vote and whether any members of Trump's campaign colluded with Moscow.
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A federal grand jury on Friday charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democratic computer networks in 2016, in the most detailed US accusation yet that Moscow meddled in the presidential election to help Republican Donald Trump.
The indictment, which alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy involving sophisticated hacking and staged releases of documents, raises the stakes for a summit next week between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Officers of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, covertly monitored computers of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign and Democratic campaign committees, and stole large amounts of data, the indictment said.
"In addition to releasing documents directly to the public, the defendants transferred stolen documents to another organisation, not named in the indictment, and discussed timing the release of the documents in an attempt to enhance the impact on the election," Deputy US Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told a news conference.
12
No. of Russian intel officials indicted for US election interference in 2016
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