11 December 2016, 12:14 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul's suggestion to accredit Sputnik and RT as foreign agents is illegal and contradicts aspirations of democratic countries for independent media, Chairperson of the Russian Federation Council Committee on the development of the information society Lyudmila Bokova said on Sunday.
"His idea is illegal. All democratic countries are on the path to the establishment of the independent media," Bokova told RIA Novosti.
McFaul suggested in a Washington Post column that Sputnik and RT should be accredited as foreign agents, since they provided alleged support for Republican candidate Donald Trump.
On Friday, US media reported that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly concluded in a "secret" assessment that Russia had meddled in the November elections.
In a newly-released interview with Fox News, Trump himself stated that claims of alleged Russia's involvement in the US election are "ridiculous"
