Russia dismisses US Cyberattack charges on military personnel as 'Russophobia'

Russia on October 20 dismissed the charges on six Russian military intelligence officers, who are accused by the United States of hacking computer networks across the globe, and described it as "rampant Russophobia". According to the Associated Press, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said that the alleged hacking attacks were not carried out by the Russian special services, especially the one on the Olympics. 

Read: US charges Russian military intelligence officers for carrying out cyberattacks

US alleges Russia of syberattacks

The United States Justice Department on October 19 brought indictments against members of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), a military intelligence agency of the Russian armed forces. The six officers were charged for allegedly carrying out attacks in Ukraine, France, and Georgia and also for targetting Novichok poisoning investigations using destructive malware. The United States alleged that the officers of the GRU interfered in France's 2017 presidential election and targetted President Emmanuel Macron’s political party prior to the polls. 

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The US Department of Justice also accused the hackers of targetting the organisations that were carrying out investigations into the poisoning of former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal, who along with his daughter was poisoned using the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. The US alleged that the GRU officers carried out attacks on PyeongChang Winter Olympics after Russian athletes were banned from taking part in the games over charges of state-sponsored doping. 

Read: UK Accuses Russia Of Planning Cyber Attacks To Sabotage Tokyo Olympics

In addition to this, the hackers allegedly targetted global computer networks using a destructive malware known as NotPetya. The malware affected hospitals, a FedEx Corporation subsidiary - TNT Express B.V., a US pharmaceutical manufacturer, among other facilities. The Justice Department estimates that the attack caused nearly $1 billion in losses. 

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