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One of the more alarming narratives of the 2016 U.S. election campaign is that of
the Kremlin's apparent meddling. Last week, the United States formally accused the Russian government of
stealing and disclosing emails from the Democratic National Committee and the individual accounts of prominent Washington insiders.
The hacks, in part leaked by WikiLeaks, have led to loud declarations that Moscow is eager for the victory of Republican nominee Donald Trump, whose rhetoric has
unsettled Washington's traditional European allies and even thrown the future of NATO — Russia's
bête noire — into doubt.
Leading Russian officials have balked at the Obama administration's claim. In
an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the suggestion of interference as "ridiculous," though he said it was "flattering" that Washington would point the finger at Moscow. At a time of pronounced regional tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere, there's
no love lost between Kremlin officials and their American counterparts.
To be sure, there's a much larger context behind today's bluster. As my colleague Andrew Roth
notes, whatever their government's alleged actions in 2016, Russia's leaders enjoy casting aspersions on the American democratic process. And, in recent years, they have also bristled at perceived U.S. meddling in the politics of countries on Russia's borders,
most notably in Ukraine.
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