‘Patriotically-Minded’ Russian Hackers May Have Meddled in U.S. Election, Putin Says

The Russian government has blurred the boundary between state and private actors in the past, most recently in Eastern Ukraine where Putin first claimed that only Russian volunteers were fighting before later announcing that some Russian military personnel were indeed also fighting with separatists.

Putin’s denial of state-level involvement runs contrary to reports from U.S. intelligence agencies who said that Putin directed the cyberattack against the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and a disinformation campaign during the presidential election.