Russian President Vladimir Putin has rounded on US critics of his first bilateral summit with President Donald Trump.
Certain forces in the US wanted to sacrifice US-Russian ties for their "narrow party interests", he told a meeting of Russian diplomats in Moscow.
"They are feeding millions of their people stories," he said.
Mr Trump has been accused of taking a soft line on Russia, which denies meddling in the 2016 US election.
Days of controversy and confusion have followed Monday's summit in Helsinki, where President Trump appeared to support Mr Putin's contention that there was no Russian interference in the presidential election which saw Mr Trump gain power.
It followed meetings with fellow Nato leaders and a trip to the UK, which saw Mr Trump take a far harder line in public with longstanding allies than subsequently with Mr Putin, according to BBC.
On Thursday, Mr Trump accused opponents of preferring to go to war rather than seeing good relations with Russia.
Despite the controversy, Republican voters seem to be sticking by Mr Trump.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found that despite a firestorm of media criticism, Mr Trump's Finland summit had no real impact on his overall approval ratings.
In the survey, 42 per cent of all registered voters approved of his job performance, which is consistent with averages thus far.
Some 71 per cent of Republicans polled approved of his response to Russia, while only 14 per cent of Democrats were in favour.
