LONDON, November 20. /TASS/. The United Kingdom’s allegations about cyber threats from Russia are unfounded and provocative, the Russian Embassy in London said on Monday, commenting on a cybersecurity report of the British Parliament’s Committee on the National Security Strategy.
"Recently, we have seen a whole series of insinuations to the effect that the United Kingdom has been facing cyberthreats from a number of states, including Russia," the embassy said. "Unfortunately, this report is no exception, although the document, to be fair, states that 'there is much, much more to the cyber security threat to the UK than just Russia'."
"Such statements are reckless, provocative and unfounded," the embassy stressed. "In this respect, it is worth recalling again that Russia has made multiple proposals to the United Kingdom on different levels to establish cooperation on managing cyber threats."
"In December 2017 during the then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s visit to Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed to launch expert consultations on this matter in order to address UK’s concerns, if any. By the way, some Western countries have replied positively to a similar proposal. We are open to expert dialogue based on mutual respect on this issue, which is so important for the international community," the embassy went on to say. "Unfortunately, what we see from the British side is only increased anti-Russian rhetoric."
The committee’s report recommends the British government to pay much more attention to tcybersecurity problems amidst the growing potential of cyberattacks from a number of countries and the UK’s vulnerability to such threats.