GETTY The Russian President has blasted the Obama administration for its rhetoric

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The White House last week formally accused Russia of hacking into the Democratic National Committee's computer networks and leaking more than 19,000 emails in July to "interfere" with the presidential election. Mrs Clinton's campaign spokesman has also laid into Wikileaks for working with Russia to bring down her bid for the presidency. But Mr Putin hit back, saying: "They caused this [anti-Russian] hysteria with a sole goal to distract the public from the essence of what the hackers leaked.

"It's basically a way of manipulating public opinion, but for some reason nobody discusses that. They only talk about who did it." The e-mails revealed embarrassing levels of in fighting, including messages which suggested that Bill Clinton should be distanced from the his wife's campaign because of his previous infidelity and e-mails from Doug Band, a lawyer who helped set up the Clinton Global Initiative, who described the Clintons' daughter Chelsea as being a "spoiled brat". Mrs Clinton's camp has claimed that Russia is seeking to swing next month's election in favour of Republican nominee Donald Trump but the Russian leader has denied any involvement.

GETTY Hillary Clinton's campaign saw a string of embarrassing emails made public

GETTY Donald Trump has claimed he has no links with Russia but wants the two superpowers to cooperate

They say it was in Russia's interest. There are no Russian interests involved. Vladimir Putin, Russian President

Mr Putin said: "They say it was in Russia's interest. There are no Russian interests involved." The 64-year-old leader also accused both sides of promoting anti-Russian sentiment during their campaigns. He added: "They made Russia a priority issue of the entire campaign. Everyone is talking about Russia. It may be flattering, but only partially. Because all participants of this process indulge in anti-Russian rhetoric and poison the relations between our states. This is bad for both our countries and the international community."

In Sunday's head-to-head 'town hall style' debate Mr Trump, 70, also denied having ties to Mr Putin but added that it "would be great" if America co-operated with Moscow. Mr Putin said it was "not our choice" to see relations between the two superpowers worsen.

Vladimir Putin in pictures Tue, December 13, 2016 Russin President Vladimir Putin in pictures Play slideshow 1 of 56

GETTY The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Convention were victims of the email hack