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UK Accuses Russia Of Vaccine Research Hacking, Vote Meddling

    Advertisement Britain on Thursday risked worsening fraught diplomatic ties with Russia by accusing Moscow-linked hackers of targeting labs conducting coronavirus vaccine research. The … Continue reading UK Accuses Russia Of Vaccine Research Hacking, Vote Meddling


UK-Russia
File combo of US PM Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and Russian President, Vladimir Putin. AFP
UK-Russia
File combo of US PM Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and Russian President, Vladimir Putin. AFP

 

 

Britain on Thursday risked worsening fraught diplomatic ties with Russia by accusing Moscow-linked hackers of targeting labs conducting coronavirus vaccine research.

The government pointed the finger at the Kremlin after the country’s cyber-security agency said a hacking group called APT29 was “almost certainly” linked to Russian intelligence.

In a separate claim, London said “Russian actors” sought to disrupt last year’s UK general election by circulating leaked trade documents between Britain and the United States.

Both accusations came even before the publication in the coming days of a long-awaited parliamentary report into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit vote.

Russia quickly rejected the accusations as “groundless”.

The two countries have been at loggerheads since Moscow was accused of trying to kill double agent Sergei Skripal with a powerful military-grade nerve agent in 2018.

The attack in Salisbury, southwest England, came 12 years after the radiation poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. Again, Russia denied involvement.

– ‘Completely unacceptable’ –

Britain is one of a number of countries conducting human vaccine trials for COVID-19. One, at the University of Oxford, showed potential positive results, media reports said on Thursday.

(FILES) This file photo taken on April 29, 2020 shows an engineer taking samples of monkey kidney cells as he make tests on an experimental vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus inside the Cells Culture Room laboratory at the Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing. Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP) 

 

But the National Cyber Security Centre, part of Britain’s GCHQ electronic eavesdropping agency, said labs were among those targeted “to steal valuable intellectual property”.

NCSC director of operations Paul Chichester said known targets included UK, US and Canadian vaccine research and development organisations using techniques including malware.

APT29 — also known as “The Dukes” or “Cozy Bear” — had also tried to hack government, diplomatic, think-tank and energy groups, it added.

The agency said it was “almost certain (95%+) that APT29 are part of the Russian Intelligence Services” and “highly likely (80-90%)” its targeting of researchers was “to collect information on COVID-19 vaccine research” or the virus itself.

The authorities in the United States and Canada backed their assessment, he added.

Nearly 600,000 people have died and more than 13.5 million infected in the coronavirus outbreak this year.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that targeting those working to find a vaccine was “completely unacceptable”.

“While others pursue their selfish interests with reckless behaviour, the UK and its allies are getting on with the hard work of finding a vaccine and protecting global health,” he added.

– Election meddling –

Earlier, the government said there were strong suspicions of a Russian link to the leak of classified documents about a possible post-Brexit trade deal with the United States.

An investigation was launched after files were published on the social media site Reddit and were later picked up by the main opposition Labour party.

The party used them in its campaign for the December 12 election, claiming they proved Prime Minister Boris Johnson would “sell-out” the state-run health sector to US President Donald Trump.

 

Boris Johnson
File: Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on June 24, 2020, to attend Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs)a at the House of Commons – ˜ (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)

 

Health funding was a key campaign issue, and Johnson was repeatedly forced to deny the claim.

Labour’s then leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed claims the leak was put online by Russia as a “conspiracy theory”.

Raab stopped short of accusing Moscow of direct involvement.

But he said it was “almost certain… that Russian actors” were involved by putting the leaked documents online.

Johnson and his ruling Conservative party won a huge majority in the election, allowing him to push through his Brexit deal to take Britain out of the European Union.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee launched a probe into suspicions of Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit vote after concerns sparked by claims of meddling in the US presidential election won by Trump.

It completed the report last year but publication was delayed first by the election, and then Johnson’s failure to nominate new members to the committee.

This finally happened last week and members had their first meeting on Thursday, where they agreed to publish the Russia report before next Wednesday.

AFP