--- description: A top official in Russian government has accused Ukraine of attempting to sabotage Donald Trump's presidential campaign. title: Russian Foreign Ministry Accuses Ukraine of Sabotaging Donald Trump image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5767ddaa9c93ae/6988b05586f68e04c26e2d27/donald-trump-hindu-indian-american.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [russia](/tag/russia/) ## russia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Russia Accuses Ukraine of Trying to Sabotage Donald Trump's Campaign  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 2, 2016 12:36 PM CUT  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends the Republican Hindu Coalition's Humanity United Against Terror Charity event on Oct. 15, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends the Republican Hindu Coalition's Humanity United Against Terror Charity event on Oct. 15, 2016.Kena Betancur—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 2, 2016 12:36 PM CUT A top official in the Russian government has accused Ukraine of attempting to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov said Ukraine had “planted” stories about Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, in the U.S. media. “Ukraine seriously complicated the work of Trump’s election campaign headquarters by planting information according to which Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, allegedly accepted money from Ukrainian oligarchs,” said Zakharova in [a briefing](http://www.mid.ru/en/press%5Fservice/spokesman/briefings/-/asset%5Fpublisher/D2wHaWMCU6Od/content/id/2540954 "undefined") in Moscow on Nov. 30\. “All of you have heard this remarkable story.” Manafort [resigned his post](http://time.com/4459066/paul-manafort-donald-trump-campaign/?iid=sr-link3 "undefined") as chairman of Trump’s campaign in August, after he became embroiled in controversy when [a New York _Times_ report](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?%5Fr=1 "undefined") found that political leaders in Ukraine earmarked millions in undisclosed cash for him. Manafort said at the time that the findings were “[unfounded, silly, and nonsensical](http://time.com/4452164/donald-trump-paul-manafort-ukraine/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined").” “I never understood why I was the target,” Manafort [told Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/russia-ukraine-trump-manafort-232101 "undefined") on Thursday. “I wasn’t the candidate. I was just caught in the crossfire.” Meanwhile, it’s Russia that has actually been accused of tampering with the U.S. election. Russian hackers [are suspected](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/07/us-russia-dnc-hack-interfering-presidential-election "undefined") of releasing damaging emails from the Democratic National Committee ahead of the Democratic convention, as well as [emails](http://www.wsj.com/articles/top-russian-officials-shift-away-from-denying-dnc-hack-1476295233 "undefined") from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. [Read TIME’s September cover story: How Russia Wants to Undermine the U.S. Election](http://time.com/4512771/how-russia-wants-undermine-us-election/?iid=sr-link8 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4588665/russia-foreign-ministry-ukraine-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4588665/russia-foreign-ministry-ukraine-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Russia Accuses Ukraine of Trying to Sabotage Donald Trump's Campaign","datePublished":"2016-12-02T12:36:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:06:26.467Z","description":"\"Ukraine seriously complicated the work of Trump’s election campaign headquarters\"","url":"https://time.com/4588665/russia-foreign-ministry-ukraine-donald-trump/","keywords":["russia","Ukraine","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5767ddaa9c93ae/6988b05586f68e04c26e2d27/donald-trump-hindu-indian-american.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5767ddaa9c93ae/6988b05586f68e04c26e2d27/donald-trump-hindu-indian-american.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald trump hindu indian american","caption":"donald trump hindu indian american","creditText":"Kena Betancur—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/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4588665/russia-foreign-ministry-ukraine-donald-trump/","name":"Russia Accuses Ukraine of Trying to Sabotage Donald Trump's Campaign"}}]}] ```