No hackers working for the Russian government, says Russia

Russia has rejected allegations that it coordinated piracy attempts against academic and pharmaceutical organizations in the West, and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told CNBC on Monday that no hacker works for the Kremlin.

“There are no hackers working for the Russian government, so our government does not consider or coordinate hackers’ actions,” Siluanov told CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore.

“I can reiterate that, from our point of view, hackers were not given any special task of accessing the websites of pharmaceutical companies,” he said, and insisted that the country had no vested interest in developing the coronavirus vaccine from other nations, as Russia is trying to develop its own.

“Therefore, I really don’t see any point for hackers to get involved in these activities,” added Siluanov.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, the National Security Agency, the Canadian Communications Security Establishment and the UK’s National Center for Cyber ​​Security joined forces on Thursday accusing Russia’s hacking campaign.

Authorities said a group known as APT29, also known as “Cozy Bear,” is likely to blame for the attack. They said it used phishing and personalized malware to attack vaccine researchers, adding that the group “almost certainly” operates as part of the Russian intelligence services.

“It is completely unacceptable for the Russian Intelligence Services to target those who are working to combat the coronavirus pandemic,” said UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in a statement.

On Friday, Russian officials also signaled an agreement to mass-produce a British coronavirus vaccine, developed by Astrazeneca and Oxford University, as evidence that Russia has no need to steal vaccine data.

Russia’s relationship with the West remains tense, and increasingly so, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The latest allegations come after Russia was accused of spreading disinformation about the coronavirus as the virus spread across Europe in the spring. Again, Russia denied the allegations, saying they were unfounded and lacked common sense.

However, apart from diplomatic disputes, Russia has to face the economic crisis precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic along with the rest of the international community. Russia has the fourth highest number of coronavirus cases, with almost 770,000 confirmed infections, after the US, Brazil and India, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

A week ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly supported a proposal to give the country more time to implement a massive $ 363 billion national investment plan, allowing the completion deadline for the package of measures to take six years. until 2030, as the country tries to deal with a recession brought on by the crisis.

In June, when Russia’s central bank lowered its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 4.5%, the lowest level since the Soviet Union’s fall in 1991, it warned that the contraction of GDP (gross domestic product) in the second quarter “could be more considerable than expected”. GDP is forecast to decline 4-6% in 2020.

Economists suggest that Russia may see the slowest recovery among developed nations. A report by The Economist’s Intelligence Unit released last week stated that the global economy would not recover to pre-coronavirus levels until 2022, and Russia is not expected to reach that level until 2024 after losing nearly 10 years of growth, the report noted.

Finance Minister Siluanov did not seem concerned that the piracy allegations could perpetuate Russia’s image as a “bad actor” and could harm the country’s position among investors when it needs them most.

“How could it affect the economy? I really don’t think it will have any impact on the economy. We are following our own course of crisis measures, we will implement them. These negative stories have been around for a long time, unfortunately,” he said. .

“The main point is the type of policies we follow. They are balanced. I spoke about our fiscal policy at the meeting of the G-20 finance ministers (Group of 20). We have no problem covering the budget deficit, we are discovering our Own national investors. Should we borrow money outside of Russia or not? We will see, it all depends on market conditions. However, I am sure we will be able to borrow externally at excellent rates, “he said.

“The second point I wanted to make is about investing in our economy. This is the most important thing. We need to stimulate investors. There has been a recovery in the activity of national investors in our economy, and we always welcome foreign investors as well. I would not agree “The image of Russia has suffered attacks by hackers or other negative news, it has not. The most important thing is the balanced macroeconomic policy that we pursue, “he said.

—CNBC Sam Shead and Ryan Browne contributed to this article.