Putin: 'Political schizophrenia' developing in US

By Hakan Ceyhan Aydogan

SOCHI, Russia

Russia sees "political schizophrenia" in the U.S. after alleged sharing of intelligence secrets by President Donald Trump with Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

"We see political schizophrenia developing in the U.S. These allegations can not be explained in any other way," Putin said at a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in Sochi.

Putin's remarks came after Washington Post reported late Monday that Trump jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the terror group Daesh during a May 10 meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the White House.

Trump on Tuesday defended an apparent decision to share intelligence information with Russia just hours after his surrogates flatly denied the disclosures.

"As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety," Trump wrote in a series of early morning Twitter posts.

Putin said Moscow was "ready" to present the transcript of Lavrov and Trump meeting to the U.S. Senate if the U.S. administration deemed it possible.

Putin also jokingly said he would "reprimand" Lavrov for not sharing the secrets with the president and Russian intelligence service.

He said inciting anti-Russian sentiments in the U.S. became "worrisome", adding those who spread them were either "stupid" or "dangerous" as they harmed their own country.

Putin reiterated that Moscow did not and would not interfere in internal affairs of the U.S.