LONDON, December 7. /TASS/. The British government is trying to win voters over ahead of parliamentary elections by accusing Moscow of carrying out cyberattacks, the Russian embassy in London said in a comment to TASS.
Since there is no specific evidence, Moscow "has no reason whatsoever to trust these insinuations." "The British Foreign Office has been loudly voicing groundless accusations based on some old stories they dusted off, most of which emerged in 2018-2019. Clearly, these accusations are politically motivated as the goal is to try to ensure popular support for the conservative government ahead of the election and convince foreign partners of the British leadership on the anti-Russian front," the embassy pointed out.
Earlier on Thursday, the British Foreign Office announced sanctions against two Russian nationals who are believed to be members of the Callisto hacking group (also known as Seaborgium, Star Blizzard and Cold River) working for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The Foreign Office also accused Moscow of a series of hacking attacks targeting British politicians and organizations, and summoned the Russian ambassador to London.
The embassy pointed out that before launching its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia had "repeatedly called on the UK to build a professional dialogue on alarming incidents in the field of information and communication technologies." However, London kept rejecting Moscow’s offers. The embassy noted that the UK could have easily contacted Russia’s National Computer Incident Coordination Center after detecting "suspicious computer activity."
The next election to the British Parliament's House of Commons is expected to be held no later than late January 2025.