Russia’s embassy receives no evidence from British officials on alleged cyberattacks

The Russian embassy to the United Kingdom has not received any evidence from British officials on cyberattacks allegedly carried out by Russia against the UK infrastructure, the embassy said in a press release on Friday.

"The Embassy has not received any official evidence from the British side on either of these publications. We believe this clearly shows that there is nothing behind them. For instance, on October 6, an article in the ‘Financial Times’ alleged that in 2015 Russia hacked the UK-based ‘Islam Channel’. Embassy diplomats visited the channel and even invited its editor-in-chief to attend the Ambassador’s press conference," the Russian embassy said.

"Upon asking a question regarding this publication, we received a clear statement that at the time nothing whatsoever was said about the Russian role in the attack. Moreover, it is worth noting that the issue was precisely raised now, as part of the widespread and coordinated campaign in the UK media aimed at denigration of our country," the press release said.

"In the meantime, more and more facts appear to confirm the cyberattack by the British secret services on a Belgian telecom company ‘Belgacom’ aimed at intercepting communications of EU officials, as well as Brussels-based diplomats. This story was widely covered by the Belgian media, yet the UK is clearly trying to sweep it under the carpet," the Russian diplomats pointed out.

"It is again worth mentioning that in an attempt to evade awkward questions, the British authorities cite ‘national security reasons’," they said.

"This brings us to the conclusion that Belgium is unlikely to receive any specific answers from the UK authorities," the Russian embassy said. "At one stage the Foreign Office wrote to us that Britain has a cyber potential, but will only use it in strict accordance with international law. Highly likely that the Belgium case is a brilliant example of this."

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Russia’s involvement in different cyberattacks, of which Western countries regularly accuse Moscow.