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Russia, US stressed need for cybersecurity dialogue at Geneva summit, says Kremlin

Dmitry Peskov noted that an expert dialogue mechanism on cybersecurity issues would be launched in the near future
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Sergei Bobylev/TASS
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov
© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. Russia and the US both agreed that they need to establish cybersecurity dialogue, however, no cybersecurity agreements were reached at the Geneva summit, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Echo of Moscow radio station.

"We agreed that we need to discuss cybersecurity, and this is of crucial importance," Peskov said. "There were no agreements reached, and they couldn’t have been reached, as there wasn’t such a goal," he added.

According to Peskov, in the near future, the sides will launch an expert dialogue mechanism on cybersecurity issues, during which they will discuss the attacks and the general level of cyber threats, as well as the issues in the sphere of critical infrastructure.

When asked whether the US provided any concrete proof of Moscow’s involvement in the cyberattacks during the summit, the spokesman pointed out that such materials are never presented at the top level. He confirmed that the US side continues to insist that the attacks were carried out.

US not blaming Russian authorities for latest cyberattacks 

Peskov also noted that "Russia positively assesses the fact that the United States does not directly blame the Russian authorities for the latest cyberattacks."

"Before the summit and during the summit (the meeting of the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva on Wednesday — TASS), it was noted that no one blames the Russian government, and no accusations were made against the Russian side," Peskov stressed.

"This is very important. We take it very positively," he said.

Peskov clarified that "some elements of these attacks, according to the US, could one way or another come from Russian territory." He noted that, according to the US, these could be individuals or someone else. In turn, Putin noted that most cyberattacks in the world are carried out from the territory of other states, primarily the United States, Peskov added.

"And this also absolutely does not mean that the US authorities have anything to do with this, by no means. But the fact that this requires bilateral interaction and cooperation is unambiguous. Potential readiness to talk about this has been confirmed," Peskov said, emphasizing the fact that this is an important outcome of the summit.