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US President Joe Biden
Photo: Frank Franklin II / AP
US President Joe Biden has announced that there will be consequences for Vladimir Putin that Russia wanted to influence the presidential election to help Donald Trump win.
"He'll pay a price," said the US president in an interview with ABC News.
When asked what the consequences would be, he said, "You will see shortly."
According to the US secret services, Moscow tried last year in the election to harm Biden in favor of Trump and to sow strife in the country.
Putin and his government "approved and carried out" the attempted influence, according to a report published on Tuesday from the office of intelligence coordinator Avril Haines.
Russia focused on disinformation in 2020 but, unlike in the 2016 election, did not seek to directly undermine the US electoral infrastructure, it said.
Biden thinks Putin is a killer
Moscow wanted to "influence the public perception of the candidates in the US" and pursue the long-term goal of "undermining trust in the US electoral system and increasing the social division of the people in America," it said.
Russia viewed Biden's election victory as “detrimental to Russian interests”.
China, on the other hand, did not try to influence the election.
Biden said of Putin that he did not believe that the Russian president had a soul.
When asked whether he thought Putin was a murderer, Biden replied: "I am."
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as / Reuters / AP