--- title: James Comey Firing: Vladimir Putin Says Russia Not Involved description: Putin said Russia "had nothing to do with" James Comey's firing. Comey was leading the probe into Russia's alleged election meddling canonical: https://time.com/4774420/vladimir-putin-james-comey-fired-russia/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-10T18:11:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:51:13.437Z article:section: Politics og:title: Vladimir Putin Says Russia Had 'Nothing to Do With' James Comey Firing og:description: He said the controversial decision would have "no effect" on U.S.-Russia relations og:url: https://time.com/4774420/vladimir-putin-james-comey-fired-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05f3fc640ea996d5/6988c1ff7cdbace6fbd57cba/putin1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3771 og:image:height: 2121 og:image:alt: Russian President Vladimir Putin Receives Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vladimir Putin Says Russia Had 'Nothing to Do With' James Comey Firing twitter:description: He said the controversial decision would have "no effect" on U.S.-Russia relations twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05f3fc640ea996d5/6988c1ff7cdbace6fbd57cba/putin1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vladimir Putin Says Russia Had 'Nothing to Do With' James Comey Firing > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 10, 2017 6:11 PM UTC  Vladimir Putin at Konstantin Palace on April 3,2017 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Vladimir Putin at Konstantin Palace on April 3,2017 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Mikhail Svetlov—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 10, 2017 6:11 PM UTC Russian President [Vladimir Putin](http://time.com/4773479/trump-lavrov-james-comey-russia/) said his country had “nothing to do with” the [firing of FBI Director James Comey](http://time.com/4773873/james-comey-fired-whats-next/), adding that the controversial termination will have “no effect” on U.S.-Russia relations. “Your question looks very funny for me. Don’t be angry with me. We have nothing to do with that,” Putin [told CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-reacts-to-comey-firing-we-have-nothing-to-do-with-that/) Wednesday, just before he took the ice at a hockey game in Sochi. “President Trump is acting in accordance with his competence, in accordance with his law and Constitution,” Putin added. “What about us? Why we?” > [](https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/862338641791680512) Prior to his firing, Comey had been leading the investigation into [Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign](http://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/). President Donald Trump, who issued the order to fire Comey and informed him with a [letter directly addressed to him](http://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/), said that the decision came down to the former bureau chief “not doing a good job.” But Democrats were quick to claim that Trump’s firing of Comey was intended to [strip the powers](http://time.com/4774305/james-comey-fired-russian-probe/) of the man who was leading the probe on Russia’s possible influence, and once again called for an appointment of a special independent prosecutor to head the investigation going forward. Putin, however, didn’t seem too worried about the allegations. “You see, I am going to play hockey with the hockey fans,” the Russian president told the CBS correspondent. “And I invite you to do the same.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4774420/vladimir-putin-james-comey-fired-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4774420/vladimir-putin-james-comey-fired-russia/"},"headline":"Vladimir Putin Says Russia Had 'Nothing to Do With' James Comey Firing","datePublished":"2017-05-10T18:11:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:51:13.437Z","description":"He said the controversial decision would have \"no effect\" on U.S.-Russia relations","url":"https://time.com/4774420/vladimir-putin-james-comey-fired-russia/","keywords":["James Comey","russia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05f3fc640ea996d5/6988c1ff7cdbace6fbd57cba/putin1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt05f3fc640ea996d5/6988c1ff7cdbace6fbd57cba/putin1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Receives Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Receives Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko","creditText":"Mikhail Svetlov—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/james-comey/","name":"James Comey"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4774420/vladimir-putin-james-comey-fired-russia/","name":"Vladimir Putin Says Russia Had 'Nothing to Do With' James Comey Firing"}}]}] ```