From Russia with hate: Putin ‘involved in Hillary hacking’

Washington: US intelligence officials now believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in hacking during the American election campaign as part of a vendetta against Hillary Clinton, NBC News reported late on Wednesday.

Mr Putin personally instructed how material hacked from US Democrats was leaked and otherwise used, the US television network said, quoting two senior officials with access to this information.

The officials said they have a “high level of confidence” in this new assessment, NBC reported.

Last weekend The Washington Post reported a Central Intelligence Agency evaluation that Russia had hacked the emails of US persons and institutions as a way to sway the election in favour of Republican Donald Trump, who eventually did beat Ms Clinton on November 8.

Mr Putin is said never to have forgiven Ms Clinton — then secretary of state — for publicly questioning the integrity of parliamentary elections in 2011 in Russia, and accused her of encouraging street protests.

The intelligence officials told NBC that Mr Putin’s goals in the alleged hacking began as revenge against Ms Clinton.

But they transformed into a broader effort to show that the world of US politics was corrupt and to, in the words of one official, “split off key American allies by creating the image that (other countries) couldn’t depend on the US to be a credible global leader anymore.”

In preparation for possible retaliation, US intelligence agencies have intensified probing of Mr Putin’s personal wealth, NBC said, citing US officials.

Mr Trump, who has spoken warmly of Mr Putin, has dismissed as “ridiculous” the allegation that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and people close to Clinton.

Leading US lawmakers have called for a formal congressional investigation into the hacking.

The Kremlin has denied a report that Mr Putin personally directed how hacked data from US Democrats was used during the US presidential election.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday dismissed the personal involvement charge as “laughable nonsense.”