Russian president Vladimir Putin likely directed efforts to try to swing the 2020 US presidential election to Donald Trump, according to an American intelligence report released on Tuesday. It also added new findings that Mr Putin either oversaw or at least approved of the election meddling to benefit Trump. The report named Mr Derkach, who met Mr Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in 2019, as someone whose movements were tracked, if not directed, by Mr Putin. Mr Mueller found extensive contacts between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia. As president, Mr Trump pulled the United States out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and imposed fresh sanctions.

Source: The Irish Times March 17, 2021 06:45 UTC