U.S. sees Russia's attempts to meddle in Ukraine elections

The Russian government is actively trying to intervene in Ukraine's internal affairs, including in the context of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.

A senior State Department official said this at a special briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"We see a noticeable uptick in already very high levels of Russian interference inside Ukraine," he said, when asked how the U.S. administration estimates Russia's attempts to meddle in upcoming elections in Ukraine.

"I think the Russians, and I should specifically say the Russian Government - and I think these decisions are coming from Putin - sees Ukraine as a very vulnerable target and is attempting through a variety of means to undermine confidence in democratic institutions," the U.S. official said.

In this regard, he also drew attention to a high level of Russian cyber activity.

According to him, the State Department has provided a lot of practical support to the Ukrainians. 

"Our post is very active there, but we've also targeted a lot of our recent aid at bucking up Ukrainian cyber defenses. So we've rolled up our sleeves and we work with them on a daily basis in making Ukraine and its institutions more resilient against those attacks," the official said. 

op