"Russian actors" almost certainly sought to interfere in the 2019 UK election through illicitly acquired documents, the government has said.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said any attempt to meddle in UK democracy was "completely unacceptable".
The documents - on UK-US trade discussions - emerged online and were used by Labour in the 2019 campaign.
A much-delayed report into allegations of wider Russian interference into UK democracy is due next week.
A Downing Street spokesman dismissed as "nonsense" suggestions that the timing of Mr Raab's statement was aimed at pre-empting the publication of the Russia report by the intelligence and security committee.
At the 2019 election, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the documents proved the Conservatives were planning to include the NHS in a future trade agreement - something denied by the government.
The government launched an inquiry into how the papers got into the public domain, with help from the National Cyber Security Centre.
'No evidence'
In a written statement, Mr Raab said that the documents were "illicitly acquired before the 2019 general election and disseminated online via the social media platform Reddit".
"When these gained no traction, further attempts were made to promote the illicitly acquired material online in the run up to the general election."
The foreign secretary goes on to say that there is "no evidence of a broad spectrum Russian campaign against the general election" but that "any attempt to interfere in our democratic processes is completely unacceptable".
A criminal investigation is underway about how the documents were acquired.
The forum website Reddit said the unredacted papers had been uploaded as "part of a campaign that has been reported as originating from Russia".
It suspended 61 accounts that showed a "pattern of coordination".
The leaked documents of UK-US trade negotiations became a key part of Labour's election message on the NHS.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiL2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLXBvbGl0aWNzLTUzNDMzNTIz0gEzaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYW1wL3VrLXBvbGl0aWNzLTUzNDMzNTIz?oc=5
2020-07-16 12:56:15Z
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