Russia and the US are in talks to establish a joint working group on cyber security, Moscow said on Thursday, in remarks that will fuel bipartisan anxiety in Washington over how Donald Trump is dealing with Russia.

"The talks are underway ... different proposals are being exchanged, nobody denies the necessity of holding the talks and of having such contacts," Krutskikh said, according to RIA.

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month he had discussed the idea of creating such a group with President  Vladimir Putin at a summit of the Group of 20 nations in Hamburg, Germany. But the idea was greeted with incredulity by some senior Republicans who said Moscow could not be trusted - and the U.S. president later tweeted that he did not think it could happen.
 

While the  U.S. and European intelligence and security officials told Reuters on Thursday they were not participating in the talks, Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator who has been highly critical of Mr Trump, said at the time that the cyber security co-operation with Russia was “not the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, but it’s pretty close. There’s only one person in Washington that I know of that has any doubt about what Russia did in our election, and it’s President Trump”.

Svetlana Lukash, a Russian official who was at the Hamburg summit, said earlier this month that the two presidents had agreed to discuss cyber security questions, either via the United Nations or as part of a working group.


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