It was reported before the Nevada caucus that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign was briefed about Russian efforts to help his presidential campaign, intensifying concerns about the Kremlin’s role in the US presidential race.

It is still unclear how exactly Russia is attempting to help Sanders win the primary, according to reports by The Washington Post. The revelation came only a day after news of the US intelligence community reporting that Moscow is taking steps to help President Trump win in 2020 by pitting Sanders against him; this was at a time when Sanders was still emerging as the Democratic front-runner.

Speaking to reporters in California, Sanders confirmed that his campaign had been briefed about the Kremlin’s efforts about a month and a half ago and condemned Russian attempts to influence in US elections.

“It was not clear what role they’re going to play. We were told that Russia, maybe other countries, are going to get involved in this campaign, and look, here’s the message to Russia: stay out of American elections,” Sanders stated.

“And what they are doing, by the way, the ugly thing that they are doing, and I’ve seen some of their tweets and stuff, is they try to divide us up. That’s what they did in 2016, and that is the ugliest thing they are doing — is they are trying to cause chaos, they are trying to cause hatred in America.”

President Trump had also been briefed on Russia’s effort to help Bernie, a White House official, told the press. The timing of the briefing has not been made clear.

At the rally held in Las Vegas before the Post’s report broke, President Trump suggested to the audience that Moscow would prefer Sanders to win, not him, making no mention of the fact he’d been briefed about the matter.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is the current front runner in the Democratic primary, is of the opinion that this report indicates that Putin doesn’t want him to be elected.