Russia has officially denied accusations by German intelligence agencies that the Russian state is responsible for the 2015 attacks on the German Parliament.
Robert Schlegel, a member of the Russian State Duma and head of Nashi, a pro-Kremlin political youth movement, told SCMagazineUK.com that any accusations of state involvement in the such an act should be supported by evidence.
According to Schlegel, such accusations are often made without proof. Schlegel added that there is a need to pay more attention to the actions of the US and other western countries in cyber-space. According to Schlegel, Western intelligence agencies are commonly involved in cyber-attacks on the websites of Russian state agencies.
The position is shared by Oleg Demidov, a senior analyst in cyber-security for the PIR Centre, a Russian analyst agency, who told SC that this is the first time Germany has brought such charges on an official level.
According to him, statements on the affiliation of Russian hackers with the national intelligence services has not been proven, however Demidov believes that they are more than capable of conducting such an attack.
Representatives of Russian state bodies declined to comment. A spokesman of the Federal Security Service told SC that the agency does not employ hacker groups linked to the cyber-attacks on the state bodies of Germany or any other country. The spokesman added that the statements and accusations of the German intelligence services are groundless and seem politically motivated.
The Federal Security Service will continue to monitor the development of the situation .
This is not the first time Russian intelligence has been accused of cyber-attacks in western countries. Several months ago, Hillary Clinton said that Russian cyber-attacks on US public institutions pose a significant threat to the security of the United States and American business.
In April 2015, Ashton Carter, the US Secretary of Defence, accused Russian hackers in the organisation of attacks on the web servers of the Pentagon, as well as White House and the State Department. According to his statements around that time, the US have evidence of the affiliation of hacker groups with some Russian intelligence services, however no official proof has been published.
