Moscow rejects MI5 chief's claims about Russia
Moscow has strongly rejected claims by the director-general of the British Security Service, MI5, that Russia seeks to “push its foreign policy abroad in increasingly aggressive ways.”
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters in the capital Moscow on Tuesday that Russia "could not agree" with claims of the MI5 head, Andrew Parker.
"We have repeatedly commented on cyber-attacks: as long as someone does not provide evidence, any statements, be they by the head of MI5, the president of the United States and other decision-makers, we will consider unfounded and baseless," the senior Russian official said, adding, "We cannot take any of these unfounded allegations into account."
Peskov said Russia has been using methods to "promote and defend its interests abroad" but they were in line with international law, adding that Moscow focused on building "good and mutually beneficial relations with all partners."
The MI5 chief told the Guardian in an interview, part of which was released on Monday, that Moscow “defines itself by opposition to the West and seems to act accordingly.”
Russia “is using its whole range of state organs and powers to push its foreign policy abroad in increasingly aggressive ways – involving propaganda, espionage, subversion and cyber-attacks,” the British official said.
“Russia is at work across Europe and in the UK today. It is MI5’s job to get in the way of that.”
Parker said Russia has some intelligence officers in the UK and has been threatening Britain covertly for decades, but “what’s different these days is that there are more and more methods available.”
Moscow is using cyber warfare to target military secrets, industrial projects, economic information as well as the British government and foreign policy, he said.
Last month, Washington also formally accused the Russian government of attempting to "interfere" in the upcoming presidential election by hacking US political institutions.
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed the charges. President Vladimir Putin has said the claims are meant to divert US voters' attention from domestic problems.
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