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The United Kingdom, the United States and Canada on Thursday accused a group of APT29 programmers of organizing cyber attacks against various organizations involved in the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus COVID-19 infection.
They said the group was “almost certainly” involved in Russian intelligence and intended to steal information and intellectual property.
Moscow immediately dismissed the allegations as “unfounded,” and Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom told BBC television on Sunday that “they made no sense.”
However, Raab reiterated the findings based on an assessment by the UK’s National Center for Cyber Security (NCSC) and relevant authorities in the United States and Canada.
“We are fully convinced that Russian intelligence agencies have been involved in a cyber attack against [vakcinos] efforts in this country and in international organizations to sabotage or profit, ”said Sky News, the head of British diplomacy.
“The fact that the Russian government is participating in activities in which the world has come together to fight COVID-19 is, in my opinion, outrageous and reprehensible,” he said.
However, Andrei Kelin, who was appointed Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom in November last year, rejected such statements in an interview with the BBC.
“I don’t believe this story at all, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said, adding that only the British media found out about the group of programmers APT29.
“In this world, it is impossible to assign any programmer to any country,” said Kelin.
Spy story
Kelin also rejected another London statement that “Russian actors” had attempted to disrupt last year’s general election.
Raab said Thursday that criminals from Russia had distributed leaked trade documents between the United Kingdom and the United States to sow further divisions.
“I don’t see any point in using this issue as a method of intervention,” said the ambassador.
“It just came to our attention then. We don’t see the point of interfering … We will try to fix the relationship and establish a better relationship than now,” said A. Kelin.
Bilateral ties between Russia and the United Kingdom have been strained since Britain accused Moscow of trying to assassinate former double agent Sergei Skripal in South West England in Salisbury in 2018.
The case recalled the 2006 poisoning of another former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, in Britain.
But Russia denies any involvement in the incidents, and Kelin said her country was ready to go beyond controversy.
“We still don’t understand why some kind of spy story should disrupt this important business relationship,” said the Russian ambassador.
“We are ready to open a new page and we are ready to do business with Britain,” he added.
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