Election Hacking: Provide Proof Or Shut Up, Putin Tells Obama

Russia, on Friday, slammed Washington for pointing the accusing finger at President Vladimir Putin over cyber attacks against the US during the November 8 election which Donald Trump won surprisingly.

President Barack Obama had pledged to retaliate against Russian hacking.

“Whenever a foreign government tried to interfere in US elections, the nation must take action – “and we will”, Mr Obama told NPR News.

Barack Obama said the email hacking was more important than the content.

“Some of it may be explicit and publicised, some of it may not be,” he said. “But Mr Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it.”

On Thursday the Obama administration suggested President Putin personally authorised the hacking of Democratic officials’ email accounts in the run-up to the election and said it was “fact” that such actions helped Donald Trump’s campaign.

The information on Mr Putin’s alleged involvement reportedly came from spies and diplomatic sources.

Russia has denied state-sponsored hacking to tip the balance towards Mr Trump, who is seen as more pro-Russia than his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said; “At this point they need to either stop talking about this or finally present some sort of proof. Otherwise this looks extremely scurrilous.”