MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. The channels of direct communication between Russia and the US for cyber incidents, the agreement to create which was reached back in 2013, are working and deserve positive evaluation from both sides, Russian Special Presidential Representative for International Cooperation in the Sphere of Information Security Andrei Krutskikh said in an interview with TASS.
"It [the mechanism] is operating; no one cancelled these agreements," the diplomat said. "These agreements were tested, and the equipment is operating. All the three levels of direct communication lines are being used: at the political level, through special agencies and so on. These are very important agreements."
"Moreover, they are not just operating, but deserve a certain positive evaluation, as through these agreements we gave the US, even before [President Donald] Trump’s election, all information that its media falsely used against us," Krytskikh went on. "And then we used these mechanisms several times to transfer the information that the US demanded. So, these lines are operating; however, they could be used more actively, but for this the wish of both sides is needed."
In 2013, Russia and the US agreed to establish direct communication lines for cyber incidents modelled after channels that existed during the Cold War.