The Latest: Trump says US will ‘counteract’ Russia meddling

President Donald Trump looks to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Donald Trump looks to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Russian interference in U.S. elections (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he’s not worried about Russia meddling in the 2018 midterm elections.

Trump says: “We’ll counteract whatever they do.”

Trump didn’t expand on how the U.S. would counteract Russian efforts to sow discord when asked about Moscow’s electoral interference during a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

Trump said in the fall elections states should deploy voting systems with paper backups, which he said is “old fashioned, but it’s always good.”

Löfven highlighted his country’s intelligence services’ renewed focus on ensuring the integrity of Sweden’s electoral system and countering foreign propaganda.

Löfven said: “The result of the election in a country should be decided by nobody else but the voters in the country.”

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4 p.m.

The nation’s top intelligence official says the Trump administration is getting ready to slap new sanctions on Russians over Moscow’s meddling in the presidential election.

The Trump administration was criticized for not imposing new sanctions in January when a list of 114 Russian politicians and 96 oligarchs was released to comply with a law passed to punish Moscow.

National Intelligence Director Dan Coats told Congress on Tuesday that new sanctions are expected within a week.

Coats said sanctions are expected against at least some of the 13 Russians accused in an indictment of an elaborate plot to disrupt the election. The indictment issued by the U.S. special counsel charged them with running a huge but hidden social media trolling campaign aimed in part at helping Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.