Thursday 5 January 2017 - 12:05
Story Code : 245796
Russian cyber attacks 'act of war': US Senator McCain
Its an act of war, McCain, a hawkish Republican and critic of the Kremlin, told reporters in the US Capitol.
If you try to destroy the fundamentals of democracy, then you have destroyed a nation.
McCain modulated by insisting there are gradients to acts of war.
Im not saying its an atomic attack. Im just saying that when you attack a nations fundamental structure, which they are doing, then its an act of war.
McCain has been a staunch critic of Moscow, insisting Washington must hit President Vladimir Putins government with harder sanctions than the ones President Barack Obamas administration announced last week for Russias role in US election-related hacking.
He has also been critical of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly cast doubt over intelligence community conclusions about the cyber-attacks.
Hackers obtained thousands of emails and documents from the computers of the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clintons campaign chief, which were published by WikiLeaks in the weeks ahead of the November 8 presidential election.
Some of the documents were embarrassing to the Clinton campaign and analysts say they likely contributed to Trumps victory.
McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee who lost to Obama, traveled last week on a congressional trip to Ukraine.
He said a key takeaway from his visit was that Ukrainian officials want an American presence as a bulwark against Russia.
Theyre scared to death of Putin. And theyre scared to death of us abandoning them, McCain said Wednesday.
On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee, led by McCain, holds the first public hearing in Congress on the hacking, with witnesses including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers.
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