The British government accused the Russian intelligence agency (FSB) on Thursday of trying to “interfere” in Britain’s political and democratic processes through cyber espionage operations.

In a statement, the Foreign Office blamed the KGB’s successor agency for several leaks of classified information since 2015 with the aim of undermining Britain’s political stability. The Foreign Office has summoned Russia’s ambassador to London, Andrei Kevin, to express “deep concern” about Russia’s “repeated attempts” to conduct cyber interference in the politics of the UK and other countries.

London believes that the FSB unit, Center 18, is responsible for the cyber espionage operation, carried out by the Star Blizzard group, which for British intelligence falls under the unit. Therefore, it has announced sanctions against two Russian citizens for their involvement in Star Blizzard (also known as Callisto Group, Colddriver or Seaborgium): FSB agent Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko and group member Andrey Stanislovich Korinets.

Attacks since 2015

According to the British Government, the FSB directs its activities against British politicians, officials, journalists and NGOs. “While some attacks resulted in documents being leaked, attempts to interfere in British politics and democracy were unsuccessful,” the Foreign Office said.

The British government has linked the FSB to cyber attacks on politicians across the parliamentary spectrum since 2015 and the hacking of trade documents between the UK and the United States that were leaked before the 2019 general election. The British government also suspects that it was involved in the hacking. from the Institute for Statecraft think tank and its founder, Christopher Donnelly, which fights disinformation, and from other NGOs and journalists.

The aim has always been to “filter and amplify information in line with Russia’s confrontational aims, including undermining trust in politics in the UK and other similar countries.” European Foreign Minister Leo Docherty had previously stated in Parliament that Russia was “compromising” the private conversations of senior politicians with its operatives, but his attempts to intervene were unsuccessful.

“By sanctioning those responsible and recalling the Russian ambassador today, we are exposing their sinister attempts at influence and providing another example of how Russia chooses to operate on the global stage,” said Foreign Secretary David Cameron. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has classified the interference attempts as “completely unacceptable” and deemed them “attempts to threaten our democratic processes.