Putin calls for agreement with US not to meddle in each other's elections
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Putin statement comes ahead of the US presidential election on November 3 when the relations between the two countries are at post-Cold War lows as the election looms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called for agreement between his country and the United States to guarantee not to engage in cyber-meddling in each other's elections.
"(I propose)... exchanging guarantees of non-interference in each other's internal affairs, including electoral processes, including using information and communication technologies and high-tech methods," he said.
Putin statement comes ahead of the US presidential election on November 3 when the relations between the two countries are at post-Cold War lows as the election looms.
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election with the aim of tilting it in Donald Trump's favour, including by hacking into the campaign of his rival Hillary Clinton. Moscow denies that charge.
Trump is currently campaigning for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden.
"One of the main strategic challenges of our time is the risk of a large-scale confrontation in the digital sphere," Putin said in the Kremlin statement.
"We would like to once again appeal to the United States with a proposal to approve a comprehensive program of practical measures to reset our relations in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT)."
He proposed the two countries reach an agreement to prevent major cyberspace incidents, something he compared to a 1972 US-Soviet treaty reached at the height of the Cold War to prevent incidents at sea and in the air from escalating.
He also called for the two countries to fully restore communication lines between their respective agencies to discuss key international information on security issues.
Russia has denied it is attempting to interfere in the 2020 US campaign, despite evidence to the contrary.
Microsoft said two weeks ago that hackers linked to Russia, China and Iran were trying to spy on people tied to both Trump and Biden. Russia and China dismissed the allegations.