Тhe Obama administration stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally authorized the hacking of Democratic officials' email accounts in the run-up to the presidential election, The Guardian reported.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Putin tightly controls any operations made by the Russian government which means that he was aware of what was happening.

“Only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities. I don't think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it”, Barack Obama's adviser noted.

He added that, in his opinion, the fact of participation of Putin in it is obvious.