The US government for the first time on Friday formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organisations ahead of the 8 November presidential election.
"We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorised these activities," a US government statement said on Friday about hacking of political groups.
"These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," the statement said.
Trump’s Russian Affair
US intelligence officials concluded weeks ago that the Russian government was conducting or orchestrating cyber attacks against the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, possibly to disrupt or discredit the election, in which Democrat Hillary Clinton faces Republican Donald Trump.
A Kremlin spokesman called the US allegations “nonsense”, the Interfax news agency reported.
Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, said public blaming for the hacks left one remaining question of "why Donald Trump continues to make apologies for the Russians." Trump had previously expressed doubt about Russia's involvement. In July, he suggested Russia should attempt to retrieve and publish emails from Clinton's private server.
Change in Tone
The statement by the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not blame the Russian government for hacking attempts against state election systems, but said "scanning and probing" of those systems originated in most cases from servers operated by a Russian company.
However, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman told Reuters that US officials have concluded that the hacking attacks or probes of state voter registration systems are "consistent with Russian motivations."
A senior US official said the administration is considering other retaliatory steps against Russia, but he declined to identify them. Those steps may remain covert, the official said.
Leaked Documents
The Democratic National Committee publicly disclosed intrusions into its systems in June, blaming Russia for the attacks. Leaks of the committees' emails from pro-transparency group WikiLeaks soon followed, demonstrating what appeared to be favouritism for Clinton over another Democrat, Bernie Sanders, by committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, stepped down.
In Friday’s statement, the government said disclosures of emails by WikiLeaks and hacking entities known as DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 “are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts.”
WikiLeaks has not identified the source of its leaks and criticised those who have claimed it was Russia. Guccifer 2.0 has identified itself as a Romanian hacker.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)