Dennis Kucinich, two-time Democratic candidate for President of the US, has said in an exclusive interview with Radio Sputnik that the attempt by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign to accuse Russia of leaking Democratic National Committee internal correspondence is a simple “dodge” aimed to avert a “deeper discussion.”

After Wikileaks published roughly 20,000 emails attributed to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) top brass last week, it was revealed that high-profile officials worked tirelessly to undermine Bernie Sanders’ chances of winning the Democratic nomination.

Soon after, Clinton’s campaign manager made the claim that Moscow was responsible for the leaks, in a bid to help Republican candidate Donald Trump become president.

According to Kucinich, those accusations are an attempt to take public attention off the “disgrace” that the DNC brought on itself by using dirty tricks to demolish Sanders’ campaign.

“Apparently, they felt that the climate was anything goes in support of the Clinton campaign, and anything goes with respect to denigrating Bernie Sanders and his movement, even to the extent of trying to inject his religion into the discussion in specific states.”

Kucinich asserted that no matter who hacked the emails, the revelations contained within them justify the hack. The DNC, he said, engaged in behavior that was “distasteful, undemocratic and anti-democratic.”

“That goes right to the heart of the Democratic National Committee’s duplicity,” he said, “their unwillingness to run a fair campaign, their attempt to rig an election, to foreclose any opportunities for Bernie Sanders and his very large movement to be able to have their position fully reflected.”

“The concept of fairness in American politics is something that many people take seriously, and, apparently, the DNC did not,” the former candidate said.

In this light, claims that Russia is involved in the scandal “absolutely defies the sense of responsibility that the DNC must have for the product of their own work.”

The accusations highlight Clinton’s aggressive anti-Russia posture, a policy stance that Kucinich considers to be another foreign policy miscalculation by the former US Secretary of State, on par with her endorsement of a military intervention in Libya.

“The US ought to be working full-time to shore up relations with Russia in all of the security issues that relate to peace in the world at this time, and to move forward, and [the DNC] says that it’s Russia that’s trying to sway the outcome of the US election.”

Aggressive anti-Moscow politics must be reconsidered, Kucinich stated. NATO’s role must come under “critical inspection,” he said. “NATO is looking to justify its position by rattling sabers and creating dissention on the border with Russia. And it’s a very dangerous game to inflate.”