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Former US president George W. Bush has said it is "pretty clear" Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election.

Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "brilliant tactician", he said it was unclear whether it affected the outcome of the vote that saw Donald Trump sweep to victory.

Speaking to a business conference in Abu Dhabi, Mr Bush said: "But they meddled and that is dangerous for democracy."

He said Russia had done the same thing during the Cold War and was adept at trying to manipulate opinion in the United States and Europe.

"It’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election," said the former president.

He added: "Putin is a brilliant tactician who has the capacity to detect weakness and exploit it.

"He's got a chip on his shoulder. The reason he does is because the demise of the Soviet Union troubles him. Therefore, much of his moves [are] to regain Soviet hegemony."

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied accusations by US intelligence officials and others of interfering in foreign elections, including the 2016 US ballot.

Former FBI director Robert Mueller is currently investigating allegations of links between Mr Trump's team and the Kremlin.

In the course of a probe that has been branded by Mr Trump as a "witch hunt", the Republican’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has been charged along with several others.

It is not the first time Mr Bush has commented negatively on Mr Trump's presidency.

In a book, the 43rd US president wrote "this guy doesn't know what it means to be president".

He also spoke out last February against Trump's comments that some media were "enemies of the people", responding that a free press was "indispensable to democracy".