MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. The United States turned down Russia’s request to make public correspondence about the hacking of the Democratic party’s server, distorting its essence at the same time, Nikolai Murashov, the deputy director of the National Coordination Center for Computer Incidents, told a news briefing on Thursday.
"Russia had to refer an official request with the US authorities to make public correspondence on that matter. The US Department of State refused to do that citing as a reason the necessity to observe information exchange privacy agreements," he said. "But, as a matter of fact, it is the American side that breaches them. For instance, Christopher Painter, the former coordinator for cyber issues at the Department of State, is indulging in that. He continues to position himself as an official at international events and publicly comments on this correspondence. Moreover, he flagrantly distorts its nature and essence."
Murashov also noted that the US mass media deliberately hushed up statements by authoritative American experts who pointed to the fact that the Democratic party’s information resources had been poorly protected.
Thus, John McAfee, a leading cyber security expert, said in an interview with Russia Today that a fragment of an old malware was used to hack the server. More to it, it was done by "an independent one person kid that downloaded the software."
"The hackneyed DNC hack narrative began to be hyped exactly when it promised political dividends. As a matter of fact, it was an attempt to make the best of a bad business," Murashov said.
Leaks from the Democratic Nations Committee’s servers was exposed in April 2016. In June, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put the blame for the hacking on Russia but a month later the White House said there were no grounds to accuse any particular country. According to Murashov, the matter might have been settled right then should the US Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security has asked Russia’s assistance. But, in his words, an official request via the Russian-US closed communication channel came only six months later. "Washington, as I have already mentioned, is sticking to a different position. We gave a substantial answer to the United States’ inquiry. But it did not stop the torrent of accusations," he added.