Russia on Saturday expressed its total rejection of accusations made by Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu against Moscow that it interfered in Turkey's presidential election on Sunday.
Kılıçdaroğlu, a main rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Friday that his party had compelling evidence that Russia was responsible for posting "completely fake" content online ahead of Sunday's vote.
But Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying: "We categorically reject accusations of interference in the Turkish elections; this is out of the question."
"We are very disappointed with the statement of the opposition in Turkey," Peskov said, adding that Kılıçdaroğlu could not provide evidence of such interference "because it does not really exist."
Under Erdogan, Turkey has adopted a balanced diplomatic stance since the Russian war on Ukraine, with close ties with the two countries with which they share Black Sea views.
Erdogan on Friday defended his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the face of the accusations made by Kılıçdaroğlu, saying he did not agree with these accusations, stressing that Turkey's relations with Russia are no less important than relations with the United States.
At the same time, Kılıçdaroğlu tried to court Russia, saying that his opposition alliance sees the need to maintain good relations with Russia and all neighbors, adding that he intends to improve relations with Moscow and solve a number of problems in bilateral relations through dialogue.