US officials believe Putin 'personally' involved in election hack

Intelligence officials in the United States have said they believe with a "high level of confidence" that Russian president Vladimir Putin was personally involved in a hack associated with the US presidential election.

NBC News reported on Thursday that sources from US intelligence agencies told the broadcaster that Putin directed a hack of Democratic Party emails and their subsequent leak to whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

Russian authorities have consistently denied that they had any involvement in the hack, which led to the release of thousands of emails from senior Democrats, including defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta.

According to the report, evidence seen by NBC's sources say that the actions of the Russian government initially began as a vendetta against Clinton, but soon turned into an attempt to undermine US credibility on an international stage.

Earlier on Thursday, the allegations of Russian involvement in the hack were rubbished by officials from the country.

"I was astonished when I saw it," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "I think, this is nothing but nonsense, there is not a chance that anybody could believe that."

Clinton unexpectedly lost to Republican Donald Trump in last month's election, sparking fears about Russian intervention due to the warm relations between him and Putin.