President Obama said Friday that publicly shaming Russia for interfering in the 2016 presidential election is unlikely to deter that country from carrying out further cyberattacks on the United States.
Speaking to reporters at the last White House press conference of his presidency, Obama said that strategy won’t work because Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued to deny any involvement in hack-and-release operations that occurred during the most recent election cycle.
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“Putin denies it, so that idea that somehow public shaming is going to be effective [in deterring future cyberattacks] doesn’t read the thought process in Russia very well,” Obama said.
Instead, Obama said his administration is “taking the time to think through and figure out … a thoughtful and methodical” response that is likely to include some retaliatory measures that will remain private.
“At a point in time when we’ve taken certain actions that we can divulge publicly, we will do so,’ the president told reporters. “[But] there are times that the message will be directly received by the Russians privately.”
