US President Barack Obama says that 'actions' needed to be taken against Russia over President Vladimir Putin's involvement aimed at interfering in the US election. Speaking to radio broadcaster NPR at the White House, Obama also said he had spoken directly to Putin and the Russian leader was 'well aware' of Obama's feelings on the matter.

"I think there is no doubt that, when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections, that we need to take actions - and we will, at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it maybe explicit and publicised, some of it may not be. But Mr Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it," said Obama.

US intelligence filed a conclusion earlier saying Russia hacked into email accounts of Democratic Party institutions and officials, which hurt the party's candidate Hillary Clinton and helped Republican Donald Trump win the election. Obama ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct a full review of the hacking and report back to him before Inauguration Day on January 20th. The president will hold a news conference Friday at 2:15 pm or 1915 GMT before leaving for a vacation in Hawaii. He's expected to be peppered with questions about the hacking dispute.