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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Donald Trump 's impeachment was based on "fabricated" charges and that the US Senate will reject the motion.
Speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow, the Russian leader dismissed assertions that his US counterpart could be removed from office - while claiming the US president's democratic rivals had pursued impeachment for purely political reasons.
"The party that lost the election is continuing the fight by other means," Mr Putin said.
He went on to liken Trump's impeachment to the earlier US probe into collusion with Russia, which the Mr Putin downplayed as being groundless.
He added that the impeachment motion "is yet to pass the Senate where the Republicans have a majority.
Show all 21 Russian President Boris Yeltsin (R) poses with the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Alexei II (L) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (C) at the Kremlin in Moscow 31 December 1999. Yeltsin announced 31 December 1999 that he was resigning immediately and that Putin, according to the Russian constitution, would run the country as acting president until presidential elections in March 2000.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin poses with his wife Lyudmila in front of the Taj Mahal 04 October 2000. Putin is on a three-day visit to India.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and US President George W. Bush (R) smile following press conference at Crawford High School in Crawford, Texas 15 November 2001. Presidents Putin and Bush spoke about their meeting at the Bush ranch at a press conference at Crawford High School.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) discuss as they walk in the residence of Zavidovo , in the Tver region, some 120 km north-west of Moscow, as Cherie Blair (C) and Lyudmila Putina (not pictured) follow them 11 October 2002. Tony Blair arrived in Russia for two days of face-to-face talks with President Vladimir Putin on fresh UN action to force Iraq to give up weapons of mass destruction.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is accompanied by Her Majesty The Queen during a procession at The Mallat during the start iof his state visit on June 24, 2003 in London, England. Putin is on a 4 days visit in Great Britain and will attend a number of functions during his time in the country. The visit is the first by a Russian President since 1843.
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President Vladimir Putin pets his dog Conny before one of his meetings with officials in his office in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, 03 March 2004. Putin met Wednesday with his nominee for prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, and expressed hope that the government and parliament would work closely in the future. At left is a bodyguard.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin seen during the recording of his annual televised New Year's message at the Kremlin, with the Spassky Tower in the background, in Moscow, recorded early, 29 December 2005.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin fishing on the Khemchik River near the foothills of the Western Sayan Mountains in the Republic of Tuva. Time magazine named President Vladimir Putin its "person of the year" 19 December 2007 in recognition of the Russian leader's role in making Moscow "a critical linchpin of the 21st century. The award, which is not considered an honor so much as a recognition of the most powerful forces shaping the world, was awarded for Putin's role in reshaping a country that Time's Managing Editor Richard Stengel said had "fallen off our mental map."
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) stands next to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi during the signing of agreements between the two countries April 17, 2008 in Tripoli, Libya. Putin is in Libya for a two-day official visit to rebuild Russian-Libyan relations.
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plays piano during a charity concert in Saint Petersburg
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) rides a motorbike as he takes part in the 16th annual motorbike festival held by "The Night Wolves" youth organization in the southern Russian town of Novorossiysk
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Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds.
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Russin President Vladimir Putin as he plays with his dogs 'Buffy' (up) and 'Yume' at his residence Novo-Ogariovo, outside Moscow. Bulgarian shepherd dog 'Buffy' was presented to Putin by his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov while Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda offered Putin the puppy 'Yume' as a gift during the G20 in Mexico in June.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin visits USA House in the Olympic Village
Russias President Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a signing ceremony in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on June 25, 2016 in Beijing, China. Russian President Vladimir Putin is in China to discuss more economic and military cooperation between the two countries.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone in his office in Saint Petersburg on December 15, 2018 with Artyom Palyanov -- a boy with brittle bone disease who wished to see a bird's eye view of the city. - Earlier the President promised to make his dream come true by sending him on a helicopter tour of the city.
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Britain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, meets Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, during a bilateral meeting on the first day of the G20 summit on June 28, 2019 in Osaka, Japan. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Osaka on Thursday for the annual Group of 20 gathering together with other world leaders who will use the two-day summit to discuss pressing economic, climate change, as well as geopolitical issues. The US-China trade war is expected to dominate the meetings in Osaka as President Trump and China's President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Saturday in an attempt to resolve the ongoing the trade clashes between the world's two largest economies.
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"It's unlikely they will want to remove from power a representative of their party based on what are, in my opinion, completely far-fetched reasons."
The Russian president's marathon press conferences have become a spectacle in their own right over the years, often stretching beyond the four hour mark as Mr Putin takes questions from hundreds of media operators from around the world.
The events are utilised by Mr Putin's regime to paint the leader as open to inquiry despite his administration's year-round lack of accountability and Draconian stifling of the free press.
And since Mr Trump took office, reporters at the events have routinely asked about Mr Putin's views on the US leader and his policies.
In 2018 the 67-year-old used the platform to say he agreed with Mr Trump's decision to withdraw troops from Syria - a move he fully implemented almost a year later, allowing Russia to move soldiers into the region.
The year before he fielded questions on allegations of collusion between Russia and the US, dismissing them as claims "invented by people who are opposed to Trump in order to make his work illegitimate"
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