WASHINGTON • Russian President Vladimir Putin likely directed efforts to try to swing the 2020 US presidential election to Mr Donald Trump, according to an American intelligence report that sources said would likely trigger US sanctions on Moscow.

The 15-page report, released on Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, added heft to longstanding allegations that some of Mr Trump's top lieutenants were playing into Moscow's hands by amplifying claims made against then candidate Joe Biden by Russian-linked Ukrainian figures in the run-up to the Nov 3 election. It also added new findings that Mr Putin either oversaw or at least approved of the election meddling to benefit Mr Trump.

Washington is expected to impose sanctions on Moscow as soon as next week because of the allegations, three sources said on condition of anonymity.

The findings about Mr Putin's role are likely to receive particular attention given the report's conclusions that Russia-backed figures such as Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach enlisted unnamed US political figures in their campaign to smear Mr Biden and his son Hunter.

The report named Mr Derkach, who met Mr Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani in 2019, as someone whose movements were tracked, if not directed, by Mr Putin.

"Putin had purview over the activities of Andriy Derkach," the report said. "Other senior officials also participated in Russia's election influence efforts - including senior national security and intelligence officials who we assess would not act without receiving at least Putin's tacit approval."

Mr Biden defeated Mr Trump and became president in January.

US intelligence agencies and former special counsel Robert Mueller previously concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election to boost Mr Trump's candidacy with a campaign of propaganda aimed at harming his opponent Hillary Clinton.

Mr Mueller found extensive contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia. Mr Trump, while serving as president, also faced questions about ties of his associates with Russia and Russia-linked figures in Ukraine.

The US intelligence report also found other foreign attempts to sway American voters last year, including a "multi-pronged covert influence campaign" by Iran intended to undercut Mr Trump. As president, Mr Trump pulled the United States out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and imposed fresh sanctions.

The report also punctured a counter-narrative pushed by Mr Trump's allies that China was interfering on Mr Biden's behalf, concluding that Beijing "did not deploy interference efforts".

Russia yesterday described the allegations as baseless.

"The document prepared by the US intelligence community is another set of baseless accusations against our country for interfering in American domestic political processes," said Russia's embassy in the US.

"The conclusions of the report... are confirmed solely by the confidence of the intelligence services of their self-righteousness. No facts or specific evidence of such claims were provided."

Russia is calm about the threat of new US sanctions, the RIA news agency yesterday cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether sanctions would be imposed on Russia as early as next week.

When asked about the matter, a US official said Mr Biden had "been clear" that Washington would respond to destabilising Russian actions and noted US steps to respond to Russia's alleged use of a chemical weapon against Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Two sources said the sanctions could address the cyber hack blamed on Russia that used US company SolarWinds to penetrate US government networks, as well as reports that Russia offered bounties to Taleban-linked militants to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Moscow has denied involvement in the hack and brushed off the bounties allegations.

The intelligence report assessed with high confidence that Russian leaders "preferred that Mr Trump win re-election despite perceiving some of his administration's policies as anti-Russia". A key role was played by another man with Russian intelligence ties, Mr Konstantin Kilimnik, the report said.

It said Mr Kilimnik and Mr Derkach met and gave materials to Trump-linked people to push for formal investigations, and Mr Derkach released four audio recordings seeking to suggest Mr Biden tried to protect his son Hunter from a corruption probe in Ukraine. Mr Giuliani was among those promoting such claims.

REUTERS