Russian president gave clear response to US hacking allegations, says Kremlin

intern 11:13 - 16 December 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin during an official visit to Tokyo on December 16, 2016

Three US officials said that Putin had supervised his intelligence agencies’ hacking of the US presidential election.

The Kremlin said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin had given President Barack Obama “a really clear response” to U.S. allegations that Moscow had interfered in the U.S. presidential election by hacking Democratic Party organisations.

Russia’s TASS news agency cited Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov as telling newsmen in Tokyo that Putin had explained Russia’s stance on the issue to Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit in September.

“There was a tete-a-tete conversation and different themes were discussed.

“This theme was touched upon, a really clear reply was given by our side which perhaps did not fit with what Obama was trying to explain to us,’’ Ushakov was cited as saying.

Three U.S. officials said that Putin had supervised his intelligence agencies’ hacking of the U.S. presidential election and turned it from a general attempt to discredit American democracy to an effort to help Donald Trump.