DISINFO: No evidence supports the West’s accusations of Russian involvement in cyber-attacks and election interference
SUMMARY
No evidence has ever been provided to support the West’s accusations about Russian involvement in cyber-attacks and election interference. All the accusations made against Russia are unfounded.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative denying any involvement of the Russian government in hacker attacks, cyber-crime and election interference.
This narrative claims that accusations of Kremlin involvement in cyber-attacks and election meddling are unfounded, are made without providing any evidence, and are motivated by Russophobia.
Russian state actors have been proven to be actively involved in cyber-warfare, including malicious cyberattacks and hacking of foreign states and entities.
The targets of Russian state-sponsored / -supported cyber-attacks have included: Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Ukraine, UK, U.S., Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Romania, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the Davos World Economic Forum.
Since 2014 Ukraine has been the target of an unprecedented number of cyber attacks. Ukraine's security services attributed many of these attacks and cyber-espionage activities to Russia. Norway's Police Security Service (PST) also said that hackers linked to the GRU took part in a 2019 cyber-attack on its Parliament. In 2020, cyberattacks linked to Russia have targeted companies researching Covid-19 drugs and vaccines, as well as major US federal agencies and civilian and governmental entities in the 2020 Solar Winds attacks.
Regarding the 2016 US presidential election, Russian interference was reported by US intelligence in 2017 and confirmed in 2019 at the end of a Special Counsel Investigation.
Regarding the 2020 US presidential election, on 10 March 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (NIC) released the declassified Intelligence Community assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. federal elections: the report indicates that Russian state and proxy actors who all serve the Kremlin’s interests attempted to influence U.S. public perceptions with disinformation operations.
The UK has provided convincing evidence of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. Russia also has a track record of meddling in democratic processes, including elections, of other Western countries. Independent research, media investigations and parliamentary inquiries have uncovered evidence linking Russian state actors with interference in various electoral processes, including the 2017 French Presidential elections, the 2017 German Parliamentary elections, the 2016 constitutional referendum in Italy and the Dutch referendum on the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine. Electoral interference by Russia has been extensively documented in numerous countries around the world.
Read our article on Russian election meddling in EU countries and in the US.
See here for further background on Russian interference in various electoral processes in Europe.
Read similar cases claiming that accusing Russia of cyber-attacks is purely Russophobic, that Washington's frequent accusations about the Russian interference in the US political processes are all unfounded and that Russian secret services have never been involved in cyber-attacks.