Putin dismisses US hacking claims as pre-election ploy

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said US claims Russia had directed cyber attacks against Washington sought to "distract" American voters from domestic problems. Washington last week formally accused the Russian government of trying to "interfere" in the 2016 White House race by hacking US political institutions, charges the Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed. "There are lots of problems (in the United States)," Putin said in a televised press conference on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in I