British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said that Russian special services were involved in cyberattacks against the development of Western countries on a vaccine against coronavirus, the minister said on Sunday, speaking on the air of the Sky News TV channel.
“We are quite confident that Russian intelligence agencies have been involved in cyberattacks on (vaccine) developments and organizations in this country and abroad with the aim of either subversive work or to profit from ongoing research activities”, – the minister said, adding that this is part of a systematic Russian approach to the cybersphere.
No cyberattacks on COVID vaccine development centers in Germany were detected.
“I think it is outrageous and reprehensible that the Russian government is involved in this activity”, – Raab said.
The foreign minister also said that Britain, together with its allies, will seek to bring Russia to justice.
On Thursday, the UK’s National Cybersecurity Center said it is working with the US and Canada to identify hacker attacks affecting pharmaceutical companies and scientists in several countries. According to the center, hackers associated with the Russian Federation tried to steal data on the development of a vaccine against COVID-19 in three countries.
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov denied the accusations, saying that Russia had nothing to do with this situation. The Russian Embassy in London believes that the statements by British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab about cyber threats from the Russian Federation are a “propaganda step”.