The Kremlin said on Monday that U.S. allegations Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails were part of a cover-up designed to hide the fact that the U.S. election campaign had been manipulated.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a conference call that accusations of Russian involvement by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton were absurd emotional pre-election rhetoric lacking in facts.

Peskov said it was also wrong to accuse Moscow of wrongdoing without first investigating the accusations