US blames Russia for hacking incidents

The US said publicly for the first time that intelligence agencies are "confident that the Russian government directed" the hacking of American political groups and leaked stolen material in order to interfere with the November 8 election.

"These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," the Office of Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security said in a joint statement on Friday. "We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorised these activities."

While intelligence officials had previously said privately that they blamed Russia for the attacks, Friday's announcement puts pressure on President Barack Obama's administration to respond even as relations with Moscow rapidly deteriorate over everything from Syria and Ukraine to nuclear cooperation.

"We should now work with our European allies who have been the victim of similar and even more malicious cyber interference by Russia to develop a concerted response that protects our institutions and deters further meddling," said Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

The official statement went on to say that the intelligence community isn't in a position to confirm that the Russian government scanned and probed state election systems, even though the intrusions in "most cases originated in servers operated by a Russian company."

Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly rejected accusations that the government hacks the US. The US statement didn't detail evidence to back up the charges against Russia.

"This is some crap again," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday when asked about the US announcement.