Putin: Those Who Commissioned 'Fake' Trump Dossier 'Worse Than Prostitutes'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he sees attempts in the United States to "delegitimize" US President-elect Donald Trump using "Maidan-style" methods previously used in Ukraine.

Putin noted that an internal political struggle is underway in the United States despite the fact that the presidential election is over.

"In my opinion, there are several goals, some are obvious. The first is to undermine the legitimacy of the elected president of the United States. Incidentally, in this connection I would like to note that — whether people who do it want it or don't want — they greatly damage US interests."

"It seems that they trained for this in Kiev and now are ready to organize a 'Maidan' in Washington not to let Trump assume office," Putin said.

"The second goal is to tie the hands of legs of the newly-elect president related to the implementation of his pre-election campaign's promises to the American people and the international community," he added.

He also said that reports of alleged Russian dossier on Trump are fake as "our security services do not chase every US billionaire."

"These claims are an obvious fake. Trump, when he came to Moscow a few years ago was not a politician. We did not even know about his political ambitions, he was just a businessman, one of the richest men in America. Is someone really thinking that our intelligence agencies are chasing every American billionaire, or what? Of course not! It's just a complete nonsense."

Those who ordered the dossier on the US president-elect are "worse than prostitutes," Putin said.

"Prostitution is an ugly social phenomenon... But people who order such fakes which are now used against the elected president of the United States, fabricate information and use it in the political struggle, they are worse than prostitutes, they have no moral limits," Putin said.

Putin said that such a situation shows a "significant degradation of political elites in the West, including in the US." However, he said that he hopes that common sense will prevail.

"I hope that the common sense will prevail. It concerns the relations between the US and its allies, including in Europe. The outgoing administration involved many European political leaders in the American domestic struggle and current issues are a result of these activities."