Barack Obama vows retaliation against Russia for suspected hacking in US election
Updated
US President Barack Obama has promised Washington will retaliate against Russia for its suspected meddling in America's election process, an accusation the Kremlin has vehemently denied.
Key points:
- Obama says he spoke to Putin directly about hacking allegations
- Kremlin says Putin has been "really clear" with Obama on the issue
- White House says Russian hacking helped Trump's campaign
Amid calls on both sides of the political aisle on Capitol Hill for a full congressional investigation, Mr Obama said in an interview that anytime a foreign government tries to interfere in US elections, the nation must take action "at a time and place of our own choosing — and we will".
"Some of it may be explicit and publicised, some of it may not be," he told NPR News.
"But Mr Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it."
The Kremlin hit back later on Friday, saying the US should provide evidence or drop the issue.
"Either stop talking about it or finally provide some evidence. Otherwise it looks indecent," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia's TASS news agency also cited Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov telling reporters that Mr Putin had already given Mr Obama "a really clear response" to the allegations on the sidelines of the G20 summit in September.
"There was a tete-a-tete conversation and different themes were discussed," Mr Ushakov was quoted as saying.
"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."
But White House officials have maintained it was "fact" that Russian hacking helped Donald Trump's campaign against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Administration officials on Thursday also assailed Mr Trump himself, saying he must have known of Russia's interference.
No proof was offered for any of the accusations, the latest to unsettle America's uneasy transition from eight years under Mr Obama to a new Republican administration led by Mr Trump.
Vladimir Putin blamed directly
The claims of Russian meddling in the election also have heightened already debilitating tensions between Washington and Moscow over Syria, Ukraine and a host of other disagreements.
"Only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorised these activities," presidential spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters assembled in the White House briefing room, repeating the words from an October US intelligence assessment.
Mr Obama's deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, connected the dots further, saying it was Mr Putin who was responsible for the Russian Government's actions.
"I don't think things happen in the Russian Government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it," he told MSNBC.
The explosive accusation paints Mr Putin, the leader of perhaps America's greatest geopolitical foe, as having directly undermined US democracy.
US officials have not contended, however, that Mr Trump would have been defeated by Mrs Clinton on November 8 if not for Russia's assistance. Nor has there has been any indication of tampering with the vote-counting.
AP/Reuters
Topics: us-elections, government-and-politics, world-politics, hacking, security-intelligence, united-states, russian-federation
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