Megyn Kelly's Putin Interview: Russian President Says CIA Could Have Hacked US Presidential Election

Just a day after saying that "patriotic" Russian hackers might have meddled with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with NBC's Megyn Kelly, suggested that those hackers could have come from "anywhere." He said it is likely that those hackers were from the U.S. and might have shifted the blame toward Russia.

According to Kelly, Putin also hinted that it is possible CIA could have framed Russia for the hacking.

Read: Did Roger Stone Have Contacts With Russian Hacker?

A day after referring to hackers as "artists" who are creative in their work and choose their targets according to their mood, Putin said they could be anywhere. "They can even be hackers, by the way, in the United States who very skillfully and professionally shifted the blame, as we say, onto Russia. Can you imagine something like that? In the midst of a political battle? By some calculations it was convenient for them to release this information, so they released it, citing Russia," the president said.

Kelly, who made her NBC News debut Thursday with an appearance on the "Today" show, reported from St. Petersburg. Kelly also moderated a panel at the International Economic Forum that included Putin.

"This will be the first time that he'll be taking questions from an American journalist since the special council was appointed in the United States to look into allegations of Russian interference in our election," Kelly said of her interview.

Kelly's interview with Putin came at a time when the House and Senate intelligence committees are probing the alleged interference by Russians in the U.S. presidential election. Several of President Donald Trump's close aides, including his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, will be questioned over their Russian links.

While addressing the forum Friday, Putin also said the hacking accusations against his country were nothing more than "harmful gossip," and that it was damaging international relations and the global economy, reports said.

Putin reportedly said he had personally reviewed the U.S. intelligence reports containing the allegations against Russia for hacking the election, and he found no meaningful evidence in them.

"I have read these reports," said Putin. "Even in these reports there is nothing specific but only assumptions and conclusions based on assumptions."

He said that reports of the hacking having been carried out from Russian IP addresses were not true.

"Where are the finger prints? IP addresses can be faked. Do you know how many specialists there are who can make it look as if your children sent something from your home IP address? They can fake anything and then accuse anyone. It's not evidence," he said.

However, Putin's position on possible interference by his country in the U.S. election is similar to the way he repeatedly shifted his version of Russia's role in the 2014 annexation of Crimea and in armed rebellions in eastern Ukraine, according to the New York Times. That time, he had initially denied that Russian troops had taken part but months later, he acknowledged that the Russian military was “of course” involved.