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Russian embassy rejects accusations of Moscow’s involvement in cyberattacks on Czechia

The embassy made the statement after Russian Ambassador Alexander Zmeyevsky was summoned to the Czech Foreign Ministry

PRAGUE, May 6. /TASS/. The Russian Embassy said it strongly rejected accusations of Moscow’s involvement in recent cyberattacks against the Czech Republic.

The embassy made the statement after Russian Ambassador Alexander Zmeyevsky was summoned to the Czech Foreign Ministry.

"Russian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Alexander Zmeyevsky was summoned to the Czech Foreign Ministry on May 6, where he was issued a protest in connection with certain cyberattacks on Czech territory, which local intelligence services linked to the ‘GRU-controlled’ hacker group APT28," the embassy said on Facebook (banned in Russia as it’s owned by Meta Corporation, which is designated as an extremist organization in Russia). "We categorically rejected the accusations made by Prague, which were not backed - as in other known cases in recent years - with even a single piece of real evidence."

"We expressed regret that instead of cooperating with us to clarify the episodes that, from the Czech Republic's point of view, threaten its security, as stipulated, among other things, by the provisions of Article 6 of the 1993 Russian-Czech Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation, the Czech side again and again resorts to megaphone diplomacy of a provocative nature. This happens even though it is well aware of the address of the Russian National Coordination Center for Computer Incidents, which is authorized to conduct a professional dialogue in this area," the ministry went on to say.

The Czech Foreign Ministry on May 3 said the country's government institutions and critical infrastructure had come under attacks from Russia-linked hackers since 2023. According to the Czech ministry, behind the attacks is a group called APT28 that has links "to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU." A statement on the ministry's website said the hackers tried to steal data from Czech agencies and organizations by exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook.

The Czech ministry stated that cyberattacks on political actors, government institutions and critical infrastructure pose a threat to national security and democratic processes in the country.

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