Former United States President George Bush on Thursday said there was “clear evidence” that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, Reuters reported. But he clarified that it was a different matter altogether whether Moscow’s interference had affected the outcome of the election.

“They meddled and that is dangerous for democracy,” Bush said at a business conference in Abu Dhabi. He claimed that Russia had interfered in the US elections even during the Cold War, and that the country was adept at manipulating public opinion in the US and Europe.

The former US president also called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “brilliant tactician”. “Putin is a brilliant tactician who has the capacity to detect weakness and exploit it,” he said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into US President Donald Trump’s role in Russia’s alleged interference in his election to the Oval Office.

Bush also called for changes in US immigration rules, in an indirect attack on Trump’s policy that bans travellers from several Muslim-majority countries. Trump has also sought to end a programme that protects undocumented immigrants, who came to the US when they were young, from being sent out of the country.

Bush said the US had a “history of welcoming people regardless of their religion or where they were born”. “It is important for our economy and also important for our soul that the immigration system functions well,” he added.