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Moscow slams Yahoo hack story as attempt to distract attention from WikiLeaks revelations

According to the ministry's spokeswoman, the published WikiLeaks materials contain information on cybercrimes in some European countries
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova  Artyom Geodakyan/TASS
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. The accusations brought against Russian nationals for their alleged role in hacking Yahoo accounts may be an attempt to distract the public attention from the latest WikiLeaks revelations, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"I do not rule out that this is an attempt to distract the world public attention from the latest WikiLeaks materials," the Russian diplomat said.

"Everything possible is being done in European capitals to see to it that the theme of the latest revelations does not reach any of their media outlets and is not developed actively in any way," the spokeswoman said.

According to the Russian diplomat, the published WikiLeaks materials contain information on cybercrimes in some European countries.

"That is why, I do not rule out that what we see now is an attempt simply to distract the world public attention through global media outlets from really very global and serious issues," she said.

"Also, it cannot be ruled out that this is the continued attempt of exploiting the theme of alleged Russian hackers in the internal political struggle in the United States," the diplomat said.

The US authorities brought charges on Wednesday against Russian nationals for an alleged hacker attack on the Yahoo web portal in 2014 to steal data on 500 million Yahoo accounts. According to US officials, the charges were announced against two Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives and two hackers.