Putin: Manafort collaborated with Yanukovych, Russia was not involved
Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalist that the former head of the US Presidential campaign headquarters, Paul Manafort, had worked with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and that Russia was not involved, reports Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
"As for Mr. Manafort, he is also associated with Russia; but the only thing that connects him is that he, being the head of an American PR agency, signed contracts and worked in the region as a businessman, including with President Yanukovych. But what does this have to do with Russia? Nothing," said Putin.
According to the statement, American discussions about Manafort's ties with Russia are "just empty talk, and the desire to use any clue to oppose the incumbent president [Trump]."
"But this is not our business; let them deal with it themselves," RIA Novosti quotes Putin as saying.
American political technologist Paul Manafort and his partner Richard Gates are under house arrest after the US Department of Justice announced on October 30 that charges had been brought against them for a total of 12 offenses.
As stated in the indictment, Manafort and Gates earned tens of millions of dollars in Ukraine between 2006 and 2015, and laundered these funds through numerous companies, partnerships and banks in the United States and other countries between 2006 and 2016 in order to conceal these amounts.