The Kremlin said on Wednesday that U.S. midterm elections would not improve the "bad" relations between Moscow and Washington, as it dismissed allegations Russia was meddling in the U.S. vote, Russian state media reported.
"These elections are important, but it's not necessary to exaggerate their importance in the short and medium-term for our relations," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters.
"These elections cannot change anything essential. Relations still are, and will remain, bad," he added.
Peskov said Moscow was so used to hearing people say that Russia interferes in U.S. elections it was not paying any attention to new rounds of allegations.
The Kremlin spokesman also told reporters it was too early to talk about a dialogue with the United States on extending the New START nuclear arms treaty.