US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (local time) accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of seeking to disrupt the 2022 elections by spreading "misinformation."
"Look at what Russia is doing already about the 2022 elections and misinformation," Biden said at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), referring to information he receives during his daily briefing.
Such actions by Moscow are a "pure violation of our sovereignty," the president said, without elaborating, in remarks to about 120 representatives of the US intelligence community who gathered in northern Virginia at the ODNI headquarters.
Putin has "a real problem. He is sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and nothing else," Biden said. "He knows he is in real trouble, which makes him even more dangerous in my view."
The US leader also expressed concern about the recent increase in cyberattacks, including via ransomware, which typically see hackers encrypting victims' data and then demanding money for restored access.
"If we end up in a war, a real shooting war, with a major power, it's going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach," Biden said.
The United States will hold midterm elections in fall 2022.
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