Tillerson: ‘Putin would have known of hacking’

Rex Tillerson has said it is a “fair assumption” that Russian president Vladimir Putin knew about Moscow’s meddling in America’s 2016 presidential election.

Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state told a Senate foreign relations committee hearing that he is not privy to the detailed intelligence about Russia’s hacking.

But he said that he read the declassified report released last week about Russia’s interference.

Mr Tillerson said in response to a question from Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, that he would not describe Mr Putin as a “war criminal”.

Mr Rubio said Russia’s support for Syrian president Bashar al-assad and bombing in Aleppo should not make it hard to say that Mr Putin is responsible for war crimes.

Mr Rubio has previously said he has “serious concerns” about Mr Tillerson being America’s top diplomat. 0 Rex Tillerson spoke at a Senate hearing

Mr Tillerson said that he has not had a conversation with the president-elect about US policy towards Russia.

Mr Tillerson said he favours keeping the current sanctions against Russia in place until the Trump administration takes office.

“I would leave things in the status quo so we can convey it could go either way,” Mr Tillerson added.

He also said Russia’s targeted bombing in the Syrian city of Aleppo “is not acceptable behaviour”.