DHAKA: Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election, a US intelligence report says.

The unclassified report says the Russian leader “ordered” a campaign aimed at influencing the election, reports the BBC.

Moscow has not commented, but Russia has previously denied the claims.

After being briefed on the findings, Trump stopped short of accusing Russia of interfering; saying only that the election outcome was not affected.

Trump later went on to blame “gross negligence” by the Democratic National Committee for “allowing” the hacking to take place.

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 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,” the report 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 Trump because he had vowed to work with Russia.

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.

BDST: 1810 HRS, JAN 07, 2017
AP