President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Monday that Russia’s government is not in touch with President-elect Donald Trump’s team. Russian news agencies reported the story, which conflicts with earlier reports that the Kremlin had been communicating with Trump during the U.S. presidential campaign and that the two groups had maintained that relationship. CIA and FBI intelligence officials have said it is likely Russia meddled in the election in order to aid Trump’s victory against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The Kremlin last week dismissed those claims as “nonsense.”
