(CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin said he "couldn't care less" if Russian citizens tried to meddle in the 2016 US election because, he claimed, the perpetrators weren't linked to the Kremlin.

During a no-holds-barred interview with NBC News' Megyn Kelly, Putin repeatedly denied ordering a multifaceted influence campaign to sabotage the presidential election.

"Why have you decided the Russian authorities, myself included, gave anybody permission to do this?" Putin asked.

Last month, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States.

"So what if they're Russians?" Putin said of the people listed in Mueller's indictment. "There are 146 million Russians. So what?

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