Peskov: Russia has nothing to do with cyberattacks against Ukraine

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Claims that Russia was involved in recent cyberattacks on Ukrainian government websites are unfounded, according to Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

"We have nothing to do with it. And Russia has nothing to do with these cyber attacks. We have heard accusations against Russia … no proof was presented and we consider it a continuation of another unproven accusation against Russia. We are nearly accustomed to the fact that Ukrainians are blaming everything on Russia, even their bad weather," Peskov told Zakaria, as seen in a preview of the interview released by The Hill on Saturday.

Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, said on Friday that the Ministry's website, as well as those of several other government agencies, was down due to malicious cyber activity. The Education Ministry's website displayed a message about an alleged data leak involving Ukrainian citizens.

On Friday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that this was a "relatively unsophisticated attack," and that Washington thought some of the claims made on the hacked Ukrainian government websites were exaggerated.

‘Too much tension on border’

Russia cannot emphasize the importance of talks on security guarantees enough, given the situation on the Ukrainian border, according to Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

"We are insisting on solving the situation, solving the problem because we have too much tension on the border. We have too much tension in this part of Europe. And of course, it drags more problems, automatically, and that’s why it's extremely, extremely dangerous for our continent," Peskov told Zakaria.

When asked about Russia's alleged escalation in Ukraine, Peskov emphasized that such claims are unfounded and that the world is filled with fake news and false accusations.

"This is the reason we are insisting that we receive the direct response for our concerns, extremely specific response for our extremely specific proposals. This is the only way," Peskov said.

Russia slams US claims on Ukraine as 'misguiding'

Earlier, US intelligence officials accused Russia of putting effort to create a pretext for its troops to "invade Ukraine", according to the White House.

The intelligence findings, according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, show Russia is laying the groundwork through a social media disinformation campaign that portrays Ukraine as an aggressor preparing an imminent attack against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine.

“We are concerned that the Russian government is preparing for an invasion in Ukraine that may result in widespread human rights violations and war crimes should diplomacy fail to meet their objectives,” Psaki said.

The Russian Embassy in the United States Russia slams US claims on Ukraine as 'misguiding' and described the recent remarks of the White House about Moscow's alleged preparations for an invasion of Ukraine as "information pressure".

"Such statements confirm the incessant information pressure on our country. Moreover, the same scenario is repeated: there is a 'stuffing' of a sensation, which then, repeated many times by the media, turns into the main news," the Russian diplomatic mission said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

"For our part, we would like to warn our colleagues against such adventures. Once again, we declare: the continuous accusations against us in the United States (both at the official level and in the media) are unfounded and cannot have any confirmation," the Russian Embassy added.