Hillary Clinton wouldn't accuse Russia and its President Vladimir Putin outright on Monday of hacking the Democratic National Committee's email system to help Donald Trump win the White House.

She said the timing of the cyber attack is 'quite intriguing,' however, and provided an anecdote that suggested she believes the foreign power is meddling in U.S. affairs to boost Trump

'He very early on allied himself with Putin's policies,' Clinton said of her opponent during a press avail aboard her campaign plane. 'He seems to have this bizarre attraction to dictators, including Putin.'

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Hillary Clinton wouldn't accuse Russia and its President Vladimir Putin outright on Monday of hacking the Democratic National Committee to help Donald Trump win the White House

Clinton said Putin's reaction to the hack told her what she needed to know. 'It was very clear that he was quite satisfied with himself.'

Putin denied responsibility for cyber crime yet at the same time endorsed it. The foreign leader said the hackers, whoever they are, performed a public service when they released embarrassing communications between Democratic Party officials in July.

Clinton said Monday she was 'really concerned' by the allegations and she is 'grateful that this is being taken seriously.'

That the intelligence community is studying the matter 'raises grave questions about potential Russian inference with our election process,' she said.

A report in the Washington Post today said the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, was investigating the hack and the possibility that the Russian government is trying to interfere in the presidential election.

'I think its quite intriguing this activity has happened around the time he became the nominee,' she said as she responded to a question about purpose of Russia's actions.

President Barack Obama met with Putin this weekend for 90 minutes during the G20 summit in China. Obama says he told his Russian counterpart that hacks on the U.S. government and American entities would 'duplicate a cycle of escalation that we saw when it comes to other arms races in the past.'

Clinton referenced the meeting and said, 'We don't want Cold War cyber conflict. But we do want there to be rules that people abide by.'

'And as the president rightly said, we have greater capacity than anybody offensively and defensively.

The former secretary of state, who notoriously presented Putin with a red 'reset button' when she took on the position in 2009, said, 'We have shown great restraint in attacks by state and non-state actors.'

There has to be a 'willingness' among major violators like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, she said, not to engage in cyber espionage. 'We are going to have to take those attacks seriously,' she said.

Clinton said her opponent for the Oval has 'generally parroted' Putin's foreign policy.