WASHINGTON-The Kremlin says Russia is not implicated by the first criminal cases against associates of President Donald Trump.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that "so far Russia doesn't figure in any way in these charges which have been made" and that Russia hopes that they do not feed "hysteria."

Peskov adds that accusations of Russian meddling in the election remain "unfounded," and "we are observing (the situation) with interest."

Peskov also says that connections between former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and a man he believed to have links to the Russian Foreign Ministry did not prove any complicity by the Russian government.