Putin's hacking denials and conspiracies in US interview

Vladimir Putin and his inner circle govern in the knowledge that most media operations in Russia will provide a constant stream of glowing commentary.

In the last few weeks however, the Russian President has been subjecting himself to rather hostile questioning at press conferences with Western leaders - and 'sit-down' interviews with specially selected journalists.

The latest example was broadcast on Sunday night on American network NBC, with interviewer Megyn Kelly repeatedly quizzing Mr Putin on whether his government has tried to interfere in US politics.

Mr Putin looked and sounded like an increasingly irritated man.

"I haven't seen, even once, any direct proof of Russian interference in the presidential election in the United States," he said.

This, of course, is the Kremlin's standard response when challenged with the findings of 17 US intelligence agencies who collectively assert that President Putin ordered his people to intervene on the side of President Trump.

Last week, at a round table discussion at St Petersburg's International Economic Forum, the Russian leader seemed to fine-tune this denial, when he likened hackers to "artists" who could be acting on behalf of Russia if they felt its interests were being threatened.

But in the company of Kelly, he seemed to ditch this reference to "patriotic hacking".

"I hadn't said anything. It's just that French journalists asked me about those hackers. I told them the same thing I tell you. Hackers can be anywhere. They can be in Russia, in Asia - even in America - Latin America - there can even be hackers by the way in the United States who very skilfully and professionally shifted the blame on to Russia. Can you accept that?"

The Russian leader further developed the point, suggesting the Americans deliberately hacked their own election to make Russia look bad - and drew on a well-oiled conspiracy to back it up.

"There is a theory that (President) Kennedy's assassination was arranged by the United States intelligence services so if this theory is correct - and it cannot be ruled out - then what could be easier than using all the technical means of this day and age to organise the attacks and point the finger at Russia."

If that sounds a bit like Mr Putin is travelling up 'Imagination Lane', he offered up another conspiratorial spectacular last week, when he was asked whether Russia was responsible for a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria back in April.

In response (again to Kelly), he suggested that she and other Western journalists had colluded with Western governments by refusing to travel to the area and reveal the truth.

In an echo of Mr Trump, some of Mr Putin's remarks seemed to flatly contradict the words and actions of his own officials.

Mr Putin stated that it really did not matter to him whether Donald Trump was president because, "the main political direction (of the United States) does not change".

However, his team have spoken publicly about their efforts to get as close as possible to the American President.

The Russian deputy foreign minister boasted of Russia's "extensive contacts" with Mr Trump's team while the foreign minister Sergey Lavrov recently said, "We are concentrating on the main character, in this case the President of the United States… who has expressed his desire to develop better our relations and our common interests."

There were plenty of other denials - for example Mr Putin said he barely spoke to former US security adviser Michael Flynn at a dinner in Moscow in 2015, saying: "I didn't really talk to him."

But he also suggested that Russia would be justified if it did decide to hack the US - because it constantly interferes with other nations.

Why then is Vladimir Putin doing interviews when he cannot control the person asking the questions?

Does he think his recent media appearances will win over sceptics in the US? Does he think the battered US President needs a bit of help - a little overseas support?

It is difficult to know when interviewers like Kelly have so much material to chuck at him.