The Obama administration is finalizing its punishment for Russia allegedly interfering with the U.S. presidential election, according to a report from The Washington Post .

U.S. officials said the penal measures, which could be made public as early as this week, will include a series of economic sanctions and a diplomatic censure. It will also likely include covert action on cyberoperations, unnamed officials told the newspaper.

Repeated cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations, as well as Hillary Clinton and her campaign personnel, have been attributed to Russian intelligence. Embarrassing documents and emails were stolen from Clinton and her aides and publicly released in the months leading up the election.

"As much as I am concerned about what happened to us in the election, I am also concerned about what will happen to us in the future," an administration official told the Post. "I am firmly convinced that the Russians and others will say, 'That worked pretty well in 2016, so let's keep going.' We have elections every two years in this country."

The White House announcement has been delayed by debate regarding the sanctions portion of the package. The kind of operation Russia is thought to have carried out during the election cycle is not covered by a 2015 executive order that gave the president the power to impose sanctions against foreign players who carry out cyberattacks against the U.S.

The U.S. threatened to use the order last year, helping bring about a highly publicized agreement with China that the country would stop hacking the secrets of U.S. firms to benefit Chinese companies. But officials concluded this fall that the order, which targets economic and national security, does not cover the hacking of political organizations and leaking stolen emails with the intent of changing the outcome of a political race.

In October , the Obama administration said it was "confident" Russia was attempting to meddle in the U.S. election with email hacks and releases through outlets like WikiLeaks, but did not say the hacks were aimed at helping one candidate over another.

Earlier this month , however, the CIA announced that the attacks were an explicit effort by Putin to help President-elect Donald Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton's chances at the White House. It also said organizations connected to the Russian government were funding fake news reports about Clinton.

Russia has denied the allegations , accusing Democrats of being "sore losers."

CIA Director John Brennan said in a message sent to employees that he had spoken with FBI Director James Comey and James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, and that "there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election."

Though top Republicans have said Russia should face sanctions for interfering with the election, Trump has denied the reports and has expressed interest in strengthening U.S.-Russia relations. The White House is reportedly taking steps to make it difficult for Trump's administration to undo sanctions against Russia.