Putin criticises Clinton’s response to election defeat, Trump applauds

Washington, Dec 25: US President-elect Dold Trump applauded Russian leader Vladimir Putin for saying that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party have been uble to “lose with dignity”. “Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and the Democrats: ‘In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity.’ So true!” Trump tweeted on Friday night. The real-estate magte was referring to remarks at a press conference on Friday in Moscow by Putin, who slammed the Democrats for accusing Russia of interfering in the November 8 election, Efe reports. President Barack Obama said a week ago that he told Putin in early September to end cyber-attacks against the US and warned him of reprisals if the hacking continued. He made those remarks after anonymous sources inside many US intelligence agencies had been telling media outlets that Moscow sought to influence the presidential race in favour of Trump. Clinton, for her part, has accused Putin of meddling in the elections, saying on December 16 that he had a “persol beef” against her dating back to 2011, when as Secretary of State she said parliamentary elections in Russia that year had been rigged. (IANS)