Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted Friday that US hackers could have made it appear that Russia was behind cyber hacks in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

"They can even be hackers, by the way, in the United States who very skillfully and professionally shifted the blame, as we say, onto Russia. Can you imagine something like that? In the midst of a political battle?" Putin said during an interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly.

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"By some calculations it was convenient for them to release this information, so they released it, citing Russia," the Russian leader continued. "Could you imagine something like that? I can."

Putin also told Kelly anyone could have pulled off the election hacks, saying her five year-old daughter could have been behind them.

"IP addresses can be invented, a child can do that! Your underage daughter could do that. That is not proof," he said.

Putin’s comments to Kelly come a day after he pivoted from denying alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections to admitting the U.S. election hacks could have been the work of “patriotic minded” private Russian rather than state-affiliated hackers.

“If they are patriotically minded, they start making their contributions — which are right, from their point of view — to the fight against those who say bad things about Russia,” he said in a press conference Thursday.

While Putin has frequently denied Russia’s role in election hacking, U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russia attempted to influence the election.

The FBI is in the midst of an investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian election meddling.