The West is seeking
to discredit Russia’s initiative to elaborate a code of conduct in the cyber
space, that is why it is accusing Russia of plotting a cyberattack on OPCW,
Maria Zakharova said.
MAGADAN, October 14.
/TASS/. Those who accuse Russia of plotting cyberattacks will soon have to
apologize for organizing this large-scale provocation, Russian Foreign Ministry
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Rossiya-1 television channel on Sunday.
She recalled a
scandal around the activities of the UK intelligence services that took place
in Moscow in 2006, when officers of the Russian Federal Security Service
exposed the British intelligence service’s newest tool to maintain contact with
its agents that was disguised as a stone.
"They denied
everything back then. But several years later, the British side had to
apologize and admit that they had used stone, caches and something else. So, I
think that before too long we will hear them apologizing and admitting that it
all [accusations of cyberattacks] was a colossal provocation," she said.
"These
provocative activities are geared to demonize Russia," Zakharova said.
"When the first leaks appeared in the local Dutch press, we immediately
asked them if they had any questions to us. To have only silence in
response."
The West is seeking
to discredit Russia’s initiative to elaborate a code of conduct in the cyber
space, that is why it is accusing Russia of plotting a cyberattack on the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Maria Zakharova
said.
"First they organized
leaks in the mass media and then fanned a scandal only now, after six months of
silence. What for? Russia has just come out with an initiative to its partners
globally to elaborate a code of conduct in cyber space. And they are sparing no
effort to pull the rug from under our feet, to say that it must be the West to
offer the world a framework for elaborating common rules of behavior in cyber
space rather than Russia," she told the Rossiya-1 television channel.
Speaking at the 73rd
session of the United Nations General Assembly, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov came out with an initiative to work out an anti-cybercrime convention
and elaborate under the UN auspices global rules of responsible behavior of
states in information space.
On October 4, Dutch
Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld claimed at a news conference that Dutch military
intelligence and security services had foiled an attack by Russian hackers
against the OPCW. She alleged that four Russians - Alexey Morenets, Yevgeny
Serebryakov, Oleg Sotnikov and Alexey Minin - were involved in the incident.
Bijleveld claimed that all the four worked for the Main Directorate (formerly
the Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU) of Russia’s General Staff.
According to the minister, the equipment confiscated from them was evidence
that they had tried to get access to the data on the MH17 crash in Ukraine.
Also on October 4, UK
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt blamed the
Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces for
organizing a series of cyberattacks that affected people’s interests across the
globe.
The US authorities
followed the lead and brought charges in absentia against seven presumed
Russian military intelligence officers accusing them of staging gross
cyberattacks. Along with the above mentioned persons, the list features the
names of Dmitry Badin, Ivan Yermakov and Artyom Malyshev. The US side claims
from December 2014 to at least May 2018 these people indulged in hacking
computers of US citizens, corporate institutions and international
organizations in various parts of the world, including the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA), the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the Canadian Center for
Ethics in Sport (CCES), the Organization for OPCW and US’ Westinghouse.
The Kremlin has
repeatedly denied Russia’s involvement in any cyberattacks.
Source: ITAR-TASS
15-10-2018
