moscow<u+2014>russia was in contact with the team of u.s. president-elect donald trump during his campaign and this work will continue, the country<u+2019>s deputy foreign minister said thursday, according to interfax news agency. <u+201c>there was communication,<u+201d> sergei ryabkov told interfax. <u+201c>naturally, we are continuing this work even after the elections.<u+201d> mr. ryabkov provided no specifics about which russian officials may have had contact with the trump team, and in what capacity. trump campaign spokeswoman hope hicks denied mr. ryabkov<u+2019>s assertions. <u+201c>absolutely not,<u+201d> she said when asked if his comments were accurate. throughout the presidential campaign, mr. trump faced accusations from his democratic rival, hillary clinton, of being cozy with the kremlin. mr. trump has praised president vladimir putin, but has said he never met the russian leader. u.s. intelligence agencies have blamed russian-linked hackers for stealing tens of thousands of emails from mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign chairman that were then published in daily batches on the website wikileaks. mr. putin has denied russian meddling in the u.s. elections, saying it wasn<u+2019>t in his country<u+2019>s interest to do so. mr. putin welcomed mr. trump<u+2019>s victory, saying he hoped u.s.-russian relations would warm and that the two countries would work together on global security and international issues. while some russian officials have openly celebrated mr. trump<u+2019>s win, mr. ryabkov played down potential for an about-face in russian-u.s. relations. <u+201c>we wouldn<u+2019>t like our public<u+2026> to have the impression that we are overwhelmed with rosy anticipations,<u+201d> he said. <u+2014>michael c. bender in washington contributed to this article.
russia claims contact with trump team during campaign  - wsj
amie ferris-rotman