Washington, Muharram 6, 1438, Oct 7, 2016, SPA -- Authorities in Washington charged Friday that Russian officials, possibly at the highest level, have sought to interfere in ongoing US elections, including by hacking Democratic Party emails, dpa reported. "The US intelligence community is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations," the Homeland Security Department and director of national intelligence said in a joint statement. Democratic National Committee emails leaked in July exposed strong bias against Bernie Sanders, runner-up for the left-leaning party's presidential nomination, leading to the resignation of the party chairwoman. Homeland Security said the disclosures through websites including WikiLeaks "are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts," and similar to Moscow's interference in politics elsewhere. "These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," the statement said. "We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities. -- SPA 23:17 LOCAL TIME 20:17 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w