US elections: Obama warns Russia

President Barack Obama has warned Russia that the US would retaliate overtly and covertly against it for its meddling in the recent presidential election through cyberattacks.

The outgoing US president said he was waiting for a final report he has ordered into a range of Russian hacking attacks that may have swayed last month’s tight election in which Republican candidate Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections. That we need to take action and we will,” Obama told the National Public Radio in an interview.

“At a time and a place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicised; some of it may not be,” he said according to excerpts of the interview.

He said he directly confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin about a potential US response, and said his counterpart acknowledged his stance.