Moscow (dpa) - The Kremlin on Monday denounced as a "witch hunt" US allegations that the Russian government supported a hacking campaign to influence the US presidential election.Russian President Vladimir Putin was familiar with a recent US intelligence report on the alleged hacking, but it "did not have anything worth reading in detail," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency. "We understand that the Americans have in different periods in their history conducted such witch hunts," Peskov said.These are "absolutely unjustified allegations made on a rather amateur and emotional level, probably not applicable to the highly professional work of actual intelligence agencies," Peskov said.The current US leadership under Democrat Barack Obama believes that the Russian government attempted to influence the election in favour of Republican Donald Trump, who had publicly praised Putin and vowed to improve US-Russian ties. Trump becomes president on January 20.
