(CNN) Ksenia Sobchak, who is challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin in next month's elections, says she believes Russian hackers may have interfered in the 2016 US elections and said she was "sorry" if that was the case.

"It sounds we really had something to do with it," Sobchak told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "If that's so, I want to say sorry."

"It's unacceptable for any country to meddle into the affairs of another country," she added.

Sobchak is perhaps the highest-profile challenger in an election it is widely assumed Putin will easily win.

Many skeptical analysts of Russian politics have accused her of being an opposition stooge -- allowed to run by the Kremlin in order to legitimize the election. In defense of the claim they cite -- among other things -- the fact that the former TV socialite's father was, as mayor of St. Petersburg, mentor to none other than Putin.

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