Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech at a session of the International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk, Russia March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

ARKHANGELSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that his country had many friends in the United States and that its troubled relations with Washington would get back on track at some point.

Putin denied that Russia had interfered in last year’s U.S. presidential election and said contacts that Russian diplomats had made in the United States were merely part of their routine work.

Allegations to the contrary were “lies” and “provocations,” he said.