US Intel Community Discusses Preventing More Alleged Russian Election Meddling

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Senior US administration officials and members of the intelligence community have discussed plans to prevent Russia and other countries from interfering in future elections in the United States, Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday.

"In my briefings at a variety of our intelligence agencies, we have discussed plans going forward to ensure that meddling in our elections by Russians or other powers around the world will be rebutted and that we'll continue to develop the kind of technologies that ensure and maintain the integrity of our electoral system," Pence said during an interview with Axios.

Pence emphasized that it was the "universal conclusion" of all US intelligence agencies that attempts to meddle in the 2016 vote had no impact on the outcome of the election.

"It doesn't mean there weren't efforts, and we do know there were. There were efforts by Russia, and likely by other countries to involve or influence American elections, and we take that very seriously," he said.

He added that foreign powers around the world are constantly trying to penetrate the information and technology structure of the United States.

US officials have accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 presidential vote in the United States, though Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called the claims groundless, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stressed that no evidence has been produced to substantiate the allegations.