Putin denies Moscow interfered in US election to 'save face': Haley

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley recently stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Moscow's interference in last year's U.S. election in order to "save face."

"This is Russia trying to save face, and they can't, they can't," Haley told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" yesterday.

"Everybody knows that Russia meddled in our elections. Everybody knows that they're not just meddling in the United States' election. They're doing this across multiple continents, and they're doing this in a way that they're trying to cause chaos within the countries."

When questioned on U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Putin's face-to-face meeting at the G-20 summit in Hamburg recently, Haley said that Trump wanted to look at Putin "in the eye."

"What he did was bring up right away the election meddling, and he did that for a reason," Haley said.

"One, he wanted him (Putin) to basically look him in the eye, let him know that, 'Yes, we know you meddled in our elections. Yes, we know you did it. Cut it out.' And I think President Putin did exactly what we thought he would do, which is deny it."

"Everybody's trying to nitpick what he says and what he doesn't, but talk is one thing, actions are another," she said. "He confronted President Putin. He made it the first thing that he talked about. And I think we have to now see where it goes from here."

Trump and Putin meeting went on for more than two hours and ended with an agreement to control violence in Syria.

On Saturday, U.S. President also met Chinese President Xi Jinping and discussed on how the two countries will work against the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

Speaking about the meeting, Haley said China "has a choice to make" about what kind of international player it wants to be.

"I think that there are a lot of options on the table when it comes to dealing with China, and now the ball's in their court," she said. "We are pushing for a resolution that has very harsh sanctions on North Korea. And so China has a choice to make. They're either going to go along with us and the rest of the international community and say, 'Yes, we think that what North Korea did was wrong,' or they're not."

Haley added that military action against North Korea is an option, as are increased sanctions "in a way that really presses their hard currency."

However, Haley said China would have to go along with the sanctions plan since it is North Korea's largest trading partner.

"If they go along with that, that's fine," she said. "If they don't go along with that, the President has made it clear that he will start looking at trade relations with China."

Trump urged action on North Korea in the brief public portion of his meeting with Xi.

"Something has to be done about it," Trump argued ominously.

There will "eventually is a success" against Pyongyang, Trump said. "It may be longer than I like, more than you like, but there will be a success ... one way or the other."

-ANI