The Russian military intelligence agency GRU accused of involvement in a series of cyber-crime across the globe, after a Russian cyber-attack on the headquarters of the international chemical weapons watchdog was disrupted by Dutch military intelligence on Thursday.
The Russian spies were named by the Dutch authorities as cyber experts Evgenii Serebriakov, 37, and Aleksei Morenets, 41, as well as Oleg Sotnikov, and Alexey Minin, both 46, who provided human intelligence.
They are believed to have been part of a GRU “cleanup” unit for earlier failed operations, travelled to The Hague on diplomatic passports in April after unsuccessfully launching a remote attack.
“The GRU has interfered in free elections and pursued a hostile campaign of cyberattacks,” said Peter Wilson, the British ambassador to the Netherlands. “It is an aggressive, well-funded body of the Russian state. It can no longer be allowed to act across the world… with apparent immunity.”
The US government announced criminal charges against the intelligence officers for targeting the watchdog, including computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering to promote Russian interests by nefarious means.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the British prime minister, Theresa May, and her Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, said: “This attempt to access the secure systems of an international organisation working to rid the world of chemical weapons demonstrates the GRU’s disregard for the global values and rules than keep us all safe.
“Our action today reinforces the clear message from the international community: we will uphold the rules-based international system, and defend international institutions from those that seek to do them harm.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said its members “stand in solidarity with the decision by the Dutch and British governments to call out Russia on its blatant attempts to undermine international law and institutions,” and that the alliance would continue to strengthen its defenses against cyber threats.
UK Defence secretary Gavin Williamson said Russia was now a “pariah state”, while the Russian foreign ministry dismissed the allegations on Thursday night and claimed the west was gripped by “spy mania”.
>Juthy Saha
