Embassy Press Officer’s reply to a media question concerning publications on cyberattacks
Question: Recently there have been numerous publications in British media regarding alleged Russian hacker attacks against the UK infrastructure. Has the Embassy received any evidence from British officials on this?
Answer: The Embassy has not received any official evidence from the British side on either of these publications. We believe this clearly shows that there is nothing behind them. For instance, on 6th October an article in the “Financial Times” alleged that in 2015 Russia hacked the UK-based “Islam Channel”. Embassy diplomats visited the channel and even invited its Chief Editor to attend the Ambassador’s press conference. Upon asking a question regarding this publication we received a clear statement that at the time nothing whatsoever was said about Russian role in the attack. Moreover, it is worth noting that the issue was precisely raised now, as part of the widespread and coordinated campaign in the UK media aimed at denigration of our country.
At one stage the Foreign Office wrote to us that Britain has cyber-potential, but will use in strict accordance with international law. Highly likely that the Belgium case is a brilliant example of this.