Robert Mueller Won’t Be Getting Any Help From Vladimir Putin

Putin says there’s indicted Russians didn’t work for the Kremlin, but the US will never get them.

TASS via ZUMA Press

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he won’t extradite the 13 Russians indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller last month. It never seemed likely that American prosecutors would be able to get their hands on the alleged Russian operatives, even though some travelled to the United States for the operation.

Putin is strident in his insistence that the US won’t touch the 13 accused operatives. ā€œNever. Never. Russia does not extradite its citizens to anyone,ā€ Putin said in an interview with NBC News that is scheduled to air later Sunday. 

The Russians were indicted for participating in what Mueller’s office has described as a sophisticated operation targeting the 2016 presidential election, orchestrated by a Russian state agency, that used social media to stir up tensions around divisive political issues, and even helped organize real world political rallies. The indictment focused on the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-linked Russian ā€œtroll factoryā€ based in St. Petersburg, noting that the operation ā€œhad a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system.ā€ That apparently included  ā€œsupporting the presidential campaign of then Donald J. Trumpā€¦and disparaging Hillary Clinton.ā€

Mueller’s 37-page indictment included details that suggest that the operatives were not particularly stealthy. For example, investigators obtained a copy of an email sent to a family member by one of the indicted Russians, in which she wrote: ā€œWe had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues.ā€

In the interview, Putin insisted that the US had failed to provide any detailed information showing that Russia was in any way involved. While insisting he would not turn over the indicted Russians, Putin also professed total ignorance of who they had worked for and what they had done.

ā€œI know that they do not represent the Russian state, the Russian authorities,ā€ Putin said. ā€œWhat they did specifically, I have no idea.ā€

When pressed, Putin, who was interviewed by Megyn Kelly, respond derisively, claiming that there was no evidence the 13 had violated any Russian laws so he was powerless to do anything. 

“With all due respect for you personally, with all due respect for Congress, you must have people with law degrees, 100 percent you do,” Putin told Kelly. “And people who are well educated, must understand that we, Russia, may not prosecute anyone who has not violated Russian law.”

“If you don’t have a legal degree I can explain it to you,” Putin added.

Putin’s strident tone on the investigation follows an aggressive speech last Thursday in which he unveiled what he said were new nuclear weapons. While not mentioning the US directly, he said that Russia would “instantaneously” respond to any nuclear attack, “no matter what the consequences are.” He accompanied the speech with an animated video showing an ICBM missile striking a map of Florida, although the Kremlin insisted it was not actually Florida.  

Putin is up for reelection on March 18. 

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who wonā€™t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its futureā€”you.

And we need readers to show up for us big timeā€”again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who wonā€™t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its futureā€”you.

And we need readers to show up for us big timeā€”again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate