US accuses Russia of email hacks to influence election

WASHINGTON: The United States officially accused the Russia government on Friday of trying to interfere in the presidential election by hacking into the computer

WASHINGTON: The United States officially accused the Russia government on Friday of trying to interfere in the presidential election by hacking into the computer networks of political organisations such as the Democratic National Committee.

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“The US Intelligence Community…is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organisations,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security said in a joint statement.

It added: “We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s seniormost officials could have authorised these activities.”

Moscow dismissed the accusation as “nonsense”. Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, “Every day, Putin’s site gets attacked by tens of thousands of hackers. Many of these attacks can be traced to US territory. It’s not as though we accuse the White House or Langley.”