Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) meets with his US counterpart
Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou on
September 5, 2016. Mr Obama says the US must and will take action
against Russia for interfering with US election. PHOTO | ALEXEI
DRUZHININ | AFP
WASHINGTON
President
Barack Obama said Thursday the United States will retaliate against
Russian hacking aimed at interfering in the US election.
"I
think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to
impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action,"
Obama told NPR radio.
"And we will, at a time and place of our own choosing."
"Some of it may be explicit and publicized," the president added. "Some of it may not be."
NPR
said Obama avoided endorsing a CIA conclusion that Russia hacked into
email accounts of Democratic Party institutions and officials with the
specific goal of hurting the party's candidate Hillary Clinton and
helping Republican Donald Trump win the election.
Trump did win.
Obama
has ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of the
hacking and report back to him before he leaves office on Inauguration
Day January 20.
"There are still a whole range of assessments taking place among the agencies," Obama told NPR.
NEWS CONFERENCE
The full interview is set to air Friday morning, hours before Obama is scheduled to give a year's end news conference.
"And
so when I receive a final report, you know, we'll be able to, I think,
give us a comprehensive and best guess as to those motivations," Obama
said.
The president's language on retaliation was not new.
When
US intelligence agencies took the extraordinary step in October of
publicly accusing Russia of staging cyberattacks against American
political organizations, officials used similarly tough terms.
"We
will take action to protect our interests, including in cyberspace, and
we will do so at a time and place of our choosing," a senior
administration official told AFP at the time.
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