MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. The so-called "Ukrainian IT army" is actually a group of hackers being trained under the aegis of the West, Dmitry Gribkov, an aide to the Russian Security Council secretary, said.

"Hacking experts are being trained in Ukraine and the Baltic states to carry out computer attacks on Russia’s information infrastructure. This international community of hackers is called 'Ukraine’s IT army.' The group’s goal is to disrupt the operation of Russia's socially important government and private information resources and steal sensitive data," he said in an interview with National Defense magazine.

Gribkov warned that, "hackers backed by Western sponsors will sooner or later redirect their criminal activities to other countries, including their 'employers.' This is what terrorist groups created with US support did, including ISIL (the former name of the Islamic State terror groups that are outlawed in Russia - TASS) and Al Qaeda (outlawed in Russia), which [eventually] turned their weapons on their creators," he noted.

The aide to the secretary of the Russian Security Council pointed out that the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation posted operational tasks and target designations on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist) and Telegram. "Clearly, engaging crime gangs in missions carried out on behalf of and on orders from government agencies opens up Pandora’s box in cyberspace," he stressed.

Meanwhile, in Gribkov’s words, Ukrainian officials are not shy about flaunting their involvement in mass cyberattacks on Russian information infrastructure facilities.