Andrew Roth Dana Priest The Washington Post

The recent spate of embarrassing emails and other records stolen by Russian hackers is President Vladimir Putin's splashy response to years of what he sees as U.S. efforts to weaken and embarrass him on the world stage and with his own people, according to Russia experts here and in the U.S. intelligence world and academia.

The recent spate of embarrassing emails and other records stolen by Russian hackers is President Vladimir Putin's splashy response to years of what he sees as U.S. efforts to weaken and embarrass him on the world stage and with his own people, according to Russia experts here and in the U.S. intelligence world and academia.