Obama administration set to retaliate against Russian 'interference' in US election

US officials will announce retaliation measures against alleged interference by Russia in the presidential election including wider sanctions and other diplomatic tactics.

Official sources told CNN that individuals involved in the interference would also be named. In an interview in mid-December, US President Barack Obama said: "I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action and we will at a time and place of our own choosing."

When asked about the nature of the action, Obama said that "some of it may be explicit and publicised; some of it may not be." He also said that Russian president Vladimir Putin was "well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it."

CNN reported that the measures are separate from the investigation into Russia interference that he ordered which is expected in January.

A secret CIA assessment, reported in early December by the Washington Post, said that hackers linked to the Kremlin had infiltrated the emails of Democratic National Committee members and handed them to Wikileaks in the hopes of swaying the election towards Donald Trump.

Trump has rejected any allegations that Russia wanted to help him win. In an interview with Fox News, he said they were "ridiculous" and "just another excuse"; later that same day one of his top aides, Kellyanne Conway called them "laughable and ridiculous".

The White House struck back at Trump in mid-December, with press secretary Josh Earnest saying that the president-elect was "obviously aware... that Russia was involved and their involvement was having a negative impact on his opponent's campaign."