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‘Names, dates’: Diplomat tells US to get real over Russian hacker hysteria

In February 2018, the US authorities officially accused 13 Russian citizens and three Russian organizations of attempting to meddle in the 2016 presidential race

© Sergei Konkov/TASS

MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. Washington’s attempts to blame anonymous Russian hackers once again for getting access to the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe database for discrediting his investigation of Russia’s alleged intervention in the US 2016 presidential election are obviously political, because specific names and facts are needed to back up such charges, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

Read also

Mueller probe has come up empty so far, says Kremlin

"Since the focus is on the special counsel’s probe and on high-ranking US officials, who have attracted attention in the United States and around the world, it would be not redundant at all to know who the hackers are and to mention concrete names and dates and provide some more specifics, and not come out with impersonal speculations on that score, which have an unmistakable political flavor."

"The time is ripe for replacing the ‘Russian hackers rhetoric’ with names, dates, etcetera," she said.

In mid-February 2018, the US authorities brought formal charges against 13 Russian citizens and three Russian organizations accusing them of attempting to meddle in the US political processes and the 2016 presidential election campaign. Mueller’s office has produced a 37-page indictment, claiming that in October 2018 an Internet account created by anonymous users published an archive of documents reportedly stolen by hackers from the Mueller office’s database. The data published online was altered and disseminated as part of a disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting ongoing investigations into alleged Russian interference.

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