President Barack Obama says the United States will take actionagainst Russia for carrying out cyberattacks during the U.S. election.Obama said any time it is proven that a foreign governmenttried to influence the "integrity" of U.S. elections,officials "need to take action... and we will."He made the comments during an interview with National Public Radio released Friday.Obama also spoke to reporters about the issueduring a press conference Friday at the White House.He said U.S. intelligence agencies have investigated the issueand found that Russia was responsiblefor leaking emails of U.S. people and political institutions.Thousands of emails were leaked from the Democratic National Committee last July.The emails contained private information about committee activities.Private emails from a top campaign adviser to Democraticpresidential candidate Hillary Clinton were also leaked.Some of the details were considered embarrassingfor Clinton and the Democratic Party.Obama said he even brought up the issue when he saw Russian PresidentVladimir Putin at a G-20 meeting in China in September.He said he told Putin to "cut it out."Obama said he wanted to speak directly to Putin to let him knowthere would be "serious consequences" if the leaks did not stop."We did not see further tampering of the election process," he said.But Obama noted that, at that time,the leaks were already public and could no longer be stopped.Obama said he thinks his administration handled the leaks correctly by making them public.The U.S. Department of Homeland Securityand the Office of the Director of National Intelligencereleased a statement on the leaks in October.The statement accused the Russian government of "directing" the leaksinvolving U.S. people and "political organizations."It said the stolen information was intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.The statement added that top Russian officials must have authorized the activities."And then we allowed you, and the American public, to make an assessmentas to how to weigh that going into the election."Obama said the United States had not yet decided how to answer the Russian actions."Our goal continues to be to send a clear message to Russia,or others, not to do this to us.Because we can do stuff to you.But it is also important for us to do that in a thoughtful, methodical way."He added that the U.S. response might be handled in a private way.Obama noted that U.S. relations with Russiahad already declined in recent years over several issues.He said the U.S. currently has many sanctions in place against Moscow."So how we approach an appropriate responsethat increases costs for them for behavior like this in the future- but does not create problems for us- is something that's worth taking the time to think through and figure out."Russian officials have repeatedly denied any involvementin activities intended to influence the U.S. elections.They have also urged U.S. officials to make public any evidence they have.Both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congresshave called for investigations into possible Russian influence in the election.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentuckyand House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsinhave called for full investigations into the election.U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has rejected suggestions by intelligence agenciesthat Russia carried out cyberattacks to help him win the election.On Thursday, Trump again raised questions about the accusations on Twitter."If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking,why did the White House wait so long to act?Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?" he wrote.