London openly accused this Thursday Russian Federal Security Service (KSB) for years conducting a cyber espionage campaign against British politicians, journalists and other public figures. The aim behind the former KGB’s maneuvers was to “intervene” and “interfere” in both British political life and democratic processes such as the 2019 election, according to the Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) Leo Docherty in the House of Commons and media outlets such as ‘The Guardian’ and ‘BBC’ reports.
After these allegations came to light, the British Government has summons Russian ambassador to British Foreign Office. Likewise, they have imposed “appropriate sanctions” on two suspects – Andrey Korinets, better known as Alexei Doguzhiev, and Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko -, British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden reported. In addition to asserting that Russia was responsible for “hostile cyber operations aimed at interfering in democratic processes in the UK”, Dowden also assured that among the victims of the cyber attack were “parliamentarians, public officials, think tanks, journalists and NGOs.” . ” Former head of the British Intelligence Service, Sir Richard Dearlove, was one of them.
Members of the FSB’s Center 18 unit and Star Blizzard group, Dowden continued, citing a report by the British news agency PA Media, had been stealing classified information about the UK since at least 2015. Through hundreds of cyberattacks, they “selectively” leaked “sensitive” information aimed at “undermining confidence” in British politics and other “like-minded” Western countries in the face of “confrontation with Russia”. “The efforts of the successor to the KGB to the influence of the shadow“This contrasts, he said, with Britain’s commitment to “transparency.”
The newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Cameronhas also spoken out on the issue while on an official trip to Washington, where he met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Russia’s attempts to interfere in British politics are “unacceptable,” he said in a statement. “They seek to undermine our democratic processes. Despite their repeated attempts, they have failed. “We will continue to work to hold Russia to account,” the former British prime minister for six years concluded.
Several British MPs have complained on previous occasions about being attacked by hackers. Among them is the Labour Party. Ben Bradshawwho reported in 2019 that he had been the target of Russian intelligence espionage. Two years earlier, in 2017, there were also suspicions that the FSB was behind a cyberattack on the UK Parliament that hacked dozens of MPs’ email accounts. Other politicians who were also reported to have had their personal accounts spied on include Liam Fox (Conservative Party) and Stewart McDonald (Scottish National Party). However, it was only on Thursday that the UK strongly condemned Vladimir Putin’s government’s attempts to “interfere in the democratic process” in the country.
Russiafor this part, has denied involved in cyber espionage activities as has often been done.
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