St. Petersburg, Russia (CNN) The Russian government denied Monday that it had interfered in the 2016 US election campaign in the Kremlin's first remarks since 13 Russian nationals were indicted Friday on charges of conspiring to defraud the US.

Answering a question from CNN on a weekly telephone news conference, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, said the indictments provided "no substantial evidence" of Russian meddling, and that there were "no indications that the Russian state could have been involved."

"We didn't see any substantial evidence of someone interfering in the domestic affairs," Peskov added. He said the US indictment "mentions Russian citizens, but we heard the accusations against the Russian state -- that the Russian state, the Kremlin and the Russian government were involved."

Special counsel Robert Mueller -- appointed by the US Justice Department to investigate Russian election meddling -- laid out charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities on Friday.

The sweeping indictment describes in detail an unprecedented, years-long effort by Russia to interfere with the US political system and the 2016 presidential election, affirming the longstanding conclusions of the US intelligence community. It is at odds with President Donald Trump's persistent questioning of those conclusions, which has continued throughout his first year in office.