Senior Russian lawmaker says Britain's meddling allegations will hurt ties - RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior Russian lawmaker said on Thursday that Britain's allegations of Russian election meddling would undermine already bad ties between the two countries, calling the assertions anti-Russian nonsense, the RIA news agency reported.

"The British leadership is again making the same anti-Russian mistakes and not only further undermining ties with Moscow but also its own authority," Leonid Slutsky, a member of the State Duma, the lower house pf parliament, was cited as saying.

Slutsky, who is head of the Duma's international affairs committee, called the allegations "more Russian nonsense."

Britain said on Thursday Russia had tried to interfere in its 2019 general election by illicitly acquiring sensitive documents relating to a planned free trade agreement with Washington and leaking them online.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)