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Kremlin rejects reports on detained FSB officers’ complicity in hacker attacks on US

Moscow has many times rejected Washington’s attempts to accuse it of alleged hacker attacks on the US Democratic Party’s servers

MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. The Kremlin has flatly rejected speculations that officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained on suspicion of high treason may be complicit in hacker attacks during the US presidential elections.

"In any case, no matters of this sort can have any relation to such absurd insinuations [about hacker attacks] or, as we have already said, we categorically deny any assertions about the possible complicity of the Russian side in any hacker attacks," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russian investigators have pressed official charges on Wednesday against Sergei Mikhailov, head of a division of the FSB’s Information Security Center, his subordinate Dmitry Dokuchayev, and also against Kaspersky Internet Security Laboratory Manager Ruslan Stoyanov, lawyer of a defendant in the case and Head of the Lawyers’ Association Team 29 Ivan Pavlov told TASS.

"All the suspects have been charged with high treason. This is the sole count in the case. There are no other accusations," he said.

According to the lawyer, the case is being investigated by the FSB’s Investigative Department. There are currently more than three suspects in the case, including two FSB officers.

The investigators say the suspects were engaged in transferring data constituting state secrets to US special services.

"No CIA is mentioned in the case. It is only the country that is mentioned. Yes, the talk is about America, not about the CIA," the lawyer said.

The lawyer rejected media reports that leader of the Shaltay Boltay hacker group Vladimir Anikeyev was among the suspects in the criminal case.

"It does not follow from official documents that Anikeyev and the Shaltay Boltay group are mentioned in this criminal case," the lawyer said, declining to disclose other details of the case.

Moscow has numerously rejected Washington’s attempts to accuse it of alleged hacker attacks on the US Democratic Party’s servers during the presidential election.