The recent hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which experts blamed on Russian government hackers, led to the release of some 20,000 DNC emails by Wikileaks and the subsequent resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “That’s what the discussion should be around”.
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The FBI said it believes with a “high degree of certainty” that hackers who broke into the DNC’s research database and files containing thousands of emails from Democratic Party officials were linked to Russian intelligence services.
Asked by Bloomberg about the allegations, Putin laughed them off.
“I have a lot of concern” about this year’s election, said Ion Sancho, the longtime supervisor of elections in Leon County, Fla. But he noted that both candidates are “very smart people” who “understand which buttons you need to press”, explaining that he viewed the attacks on Russian Federation as “part of the USA political culture”. Putin added that hackers are able to “camouflage their activity under the activity of other hackers from other areas, other countries”. While speaking about the difficulties there are actually finding the source for such a data breach, he repeated that “we definitely don’t do this at a state level”.
The FBI is also reviewing whether APT 28 passed the files released by WikiLeaks on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, prompting a shake-up of the committee’s leadership and concern that Moscow had launched a broad cyberespionage campaign against institutions at the heart of US politics.
President Obama warning Russia today about Moscow’s expanding cyber-attacks on the U.S. This as U.S. intelligence agencies are increasingly focused, U.S. officials tell CNN, on Russian influence on the upcoming presidential election.
Cybersecurity analysts traced the hack’s digital markings to known Russian government hacking groups.
For his part, President Putin has denied any tampering.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Monday that she is concerned about “credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections”.
Trump, for his part, has called for warmer relations with Russia and questioned the need for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – a position that would delight the Russian president. “I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level Russian Federation has never done this”.
In an interview with Bloomberg news agency before he met Abe, Putin indicated he would not contemplate giving up territory.
In fact some U.S. spooks do not think Putin wants to sway the election in one direction or another.
“They are both intelligent people”, he said.
Congressional officials, and their aides, keep talking about this plot as though it’s an actual thing, forming an echo chamber in which they can claim “everyone knows” the plot is real, because they keep telling one another that.
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“No, I don’t know anything about that”, Putin said in a jocular tone, raising an eyebrow as he answered the question. “You have to take it as you find it”.
