Russia dismisses hacking allegations as 'Russophobia'

Russian security services have never undertaken any hacker attacks, Peskov told reporters

MOSCOW (AFP) - The Kremlin on Tuesday denied US claims that Russian military intelligence was behind cyber attacks targeting Ukraine’s power grid, the 2017 French election and the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov described US charges against six Russian intelligence officers as "rampant Russophobia which, of course, have nothing to do with reality."

The US Justice Department, which announced the charges against the GRU agents Monday, also said Russian intelligence was behind the "NotPetya" malware attack that infected computers of businesses worldwide, causing nearly $1 billion in losses to three US companies alone.

At the same time, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab accused Russian military intelligence services of carrying out internet reconnaissance missions against targets linked to the Tokyo Olympics, before they were postponed until 2021 by the coronavirus pandemic.

"The Russian Federation, Russian security services have never undertaken any hacker attacks, especially in connection with the Olympics," Peskov told reporters.