Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Donald Trump win
the presidential election, a US intelligence report says.
Moscow has not commented, but Russia has previously denied the
claims.
After being briefed on the findings, Mr Trump stopped short of
accusing Russia of interfering, saying only that the election outcome was not
affected.
Following the report's findings, the US Department of Homeland
Security announced that voting machines and other election databases would be
classified as "critical infrastructure" and given more protection
from cyber-attacks.
The 25-page report says that the Kremlin developed a "clear
preference" for Mr Trump.
Russia's goals, the document added, were to "undermine
public faith" in the US democratic process and "denigrate" his
Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton, harming her electability and potential
presidency.
"We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an
influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election," it
said.
The unclassified version contained no detailed evidence of Mr
Putin's alleged role, but it said Russia's actions included:
§
Hacking into the email
accounts of the Democratic National Committee and top Democrats;
§
Using intermediaries such
as WikiLeaks, DCLeaks.com and Guccifer 2.0 persona to release the information
acquired from the hackings;
§
Using state-funded
propaganda and paying social media users or "trolls" to make nasty
comments
The report says Mr Putin liked Mr Trump because he had vowed to
work with Russia and the Russian leader had had "many positive experiences
working with Western political leaders whose business interests made them more
disposed to deal with Russia, such as former Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder".
In contrast, Mr Putin had blamed Mrs Clinton for inciting
anti-government protests in 2011 and early 2012 "and because he holds a
grudge for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him".
The identities of the Russian agents allegedly directly
responsible for the hack are known to US authorities but have not been released
publicly, reports say, citing intelligence sources.
The document, a cut-down version of the classified report
presented to President Barack Obama on Thursday, was released shortly after
intelligence chiefs briefed Mr Trump on their findings.
Since winning the
election on 8 November, Mr Trump has repeatedly questioned US intelligence
claims of Russian hacking. In a statement after the briefing, the president-elect
declined to single out Russia, but said he had "tremendous respect for the
work and service done" by those in the US intelligence community.
"While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and
people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our
governmental institutions, businesses and organisations including the Democrat
National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the
election," he said.
"Whether it is our government, organisations, associations
or businesses we need to aggressively combat and stop cyber-attacks. I will
appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office."
