US indicts Russian intel officers ahead of summit

WASHINGTON — Twelve Russian intelligence officers have been charged with hacking Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic Party in a stunning indictment just days before President Donald Trump meets with Vladimir Putin.

The charges were drawn up by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who is looking into Russian interference in the November 2016 vote and whether any members of Trump's campaign team colluded with Moscow.

Democratic leaders immediately called for Trump to cancel Monday's scheduled meeting with the Russian president in Helsinki, but the White House said the summit would go ahead.

The 29-page indictment issued Friday accuses members of the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU of carrying out "large-scale cyber operations" to steal Clinton campaign and Democratic Party documents and emails.

"There's no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in announcing the charges at a press conference in Washington.

He added that although "conspirators corresponded with several Americans during the course of the conspiracy through the internet," the indictment did not allege that Americans knew they were in contact with Russian intelligence officers.