Russia responds to Mueller’s report summary

Russia said on Monday that it was ready to improve ties with the United States but that it was up to Washington to make the first move, after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found no evidence of collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin in the 2016 election.

“There’s a chance to renew much in our relations, but the question is whether Trump will take the risk,” Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the international relations committee in the upper house of parliament, wrote Monday on Facebook. “We, of course, are ready. And I suggest starting with the most acute issues: the START and INF agreements” limiting nuclear weapons, he said.

Mueller’s report “proved what Russia knew from the very beginning: there was no collusion between Trump and anyone in his team and the Kremlin,” Kosachyov wrote. Still, Russia has no reason to celebrate the outcome of the inquiry after two years in which relations suffered huge damage and “the accusations against us remain.” While the Mueller report confirmed Russia meddled in the 2016 election, the Kremlin continues to deny that.

Trump scored the biggest political victory of his presidency on Sunday after Attorney General William published a summary of Mueller’s assessment that there was no collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign. The president tweeted in response that he’s received “Complete and Total exoneration” and called the 22-month inquiry into Russian interference “an illegal takedown that failed.”

While nobody has seen the full report, the summary says “nothing new apart from recognizing the absence of some sort of conspiracy,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call Monday. There’s no validity to continued accusations that Russia meddled in the U.S. election campaign, he said.

Russia has long dismissed allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded, however, that Russia was behind hacking aimed at damaging Democratic Party contender Hillary Clinton and boosting Trump’s chances of winning the election. Trump pledged during his campaign to improve ties with Russia and has repeatedly said he wants good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Now that Mueller has reported, “we’ll have to make a long-term deal with Trump anyway,” Kosachyov wrote. “His chances for re-election after yesterday look much better.”