The Russian government has called US allegations that Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails "absurd, emotional and lacking in facts". 

They added it was all part of a cover-up designed to hide the fact that the US election process was being manipulated by domestic forces.

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Russian intelligence services had hacked into Democratic National Committee computers, and she questioned Republican rival Donald Trump's overtures towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, the Kremlin said it was wrong to accuse Moscow of wrongdoing without first investigating the facts. It also said it does not favor any candidate in the November election.