Obama Warned Putin That Meddling in US Election Could Spark 'Armed Conflict'

President Barack Obama directly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that any interference by Moscow in the US election process could lead to "armed conflict," media reported.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – A senior US official was cited Monday by NBC News as saying Obama notified Putin on October 31 that international law on warfare also extends to actions in cyberspace and that Russia would be held to account based on that standard.

Officials were quoted in the report as saying the Obama administration had never before taken the dramatic step of using the "red phone" hotline system between Washington and Moscow.

In the wake of assertions by heads of key US intelligence agencies that Russia engaged in hacking computers of US political institutions to help Donald Trump win the presidency, Obama said in a news conference last week that the cyberattacks were likely initiated "at the highest levels of the Russian government."

Moscow has repeatedly denied Washington’s claims of election-meddling, characterizing them as absurd and an attempt to distract Americans from domestic issues.