LONDON, April 16. /TASS/. Russia’s Embassy in the UK thinks that the UK Foreign Office’s remarks about the alleged malevolent activities of Russian intelligence services are groundless accusations that endorse Washington’s stance, a representative from the diplomatic mission told a TASS correspondent on Thursday.

The Foreign Office’s published statement was viewed by the embassy as "nothing but an attempt to play along with the US, and so, faced with another setback in its own efforts to ensure cybersecurity, it habitually attempts to place the blame on Russia." "In doing so, London is once again using unfounded accusations with arguments in the 'highly likely' style, absolutely not concerning itself with providing any serious, not to mention substantial, support in this regard. Meanwhile, they managed to promote their own cyber potential. In order to get generous funding for the National Cyber Security Centre, military cyber forces and other structures, regular justification represented by an ‘external threat’ is needed," the embassy stressed.

No possibility of a dialogue

"It is necessary to reiterate that the Russian side has repeatedly offered its British colleagues at various levels to develop a constructive discussion on pressing issues in the sphere of cybersecurity in an expert format which would have been in great demand both for our countries and for the global community in general. We can only regret that even in new doctrinal documents London doesn’t make room for the possibility of dialogue on urgent issues of mutual interest," the embassy representative asserted.

"We have amassed quite a few questions for the British side which has demonstratively and tirelessly declared the existence of advanced offensive capabilities in cyberspace, which, together with political directives towards Russia, indicate a possible threat to our national security," he added.

The Russian diplomatic agency considers such attempts to be shortsighted. "Lately, London has been showing a growing tendency to make itself more visible as an international player in the context of its break-up with the European Union. Well, this is the affair of British authorities. However, it seems to us that it is highly shortsighted to attempt to validate itself at the expense of mutually beneficial bilateral relations with Russia," the embassy noted.

London's accusations

On Thursday, the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) asserted that Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is possibly behind a cyberattack on the software of US SolarWinds. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stated that Moscow’s alleged actions were malign, promising that he would always call them out publicly.

After that, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin was summoned to the Foreign Office where the UK expressed concern over the issue as well as over increased military presence near the Ukrainian borders.

Earlier, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the movements of Russian troops on the territory of the Russian Federation should not concern other states since they do not represent a threat. He also emphasized that the events in Donbass are Ukraine’s internal conflict which never involved Russian troops.