Revealing US Democratic Party Election Manipulations Leaks Correct - Putin

The leaks that showed US Democratic Party manipulations during last year's presidential election were proven correct, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — In the summer of 2016, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Schultz resigned following embarrassing WikiLeaks revelations. The DNC email leaks showed that its members sabotaged the party's more left-wing presidential nominee Bernie Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton. The Democrats accused Russian hackers of breaking into DNC databases, however, no evidence was provided.

"You mentioned disinformation. Which one? Is that the one planted by some hackers, saying that the leaders of [Hillary] Clinton's election campaign were unfair to other Democratic Party candidates. But when this information was made public, the campaign chief actually admitted it and resigned, is that the disinformation?" Putin said at a SPIEF plenary session.

Putin stressed that it did not matter who discovered the information, but noted that the apologies would be relevant.

Various US politicians and intelligence services accused Russia of meddling in the recent US presidential campaign and alleged hacking attempts. Moscow repeatedly denied the allegations.

The 21st SPIEF kicked off on Thursday for its 3-day run, gathering high-ranking politicians and prominent business leaders from dozens of countries in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. The Sputnik news agency is an official media partner of the forum.