Microsoft accusations against Russia of involvement in cyberattacks on U.S. state organizations unfounded - Peskov
MOSCOW. May 28 (Interfax) - The Microsoft statements on the possible involvement of Russian hackers in the new cyberattacks against U.S. government agencies and analytical centers are unfounded, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
"It's an abstract statement. It's like if we said we believe a large threat is coming from Microsoft and the software. It will be the same unfounded accusation," Peskov told reporters on Friday.
When asked whether these statements will affect the Russia-U.S. summit involving the presidents, for which preparations are now being made, he answered in the negative. "It seems to me they won't," Peskov said.
He also said the accusations made by Microsoft are not on the agenda of the relations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden.
"No accusations made by Microsoft have been on the agenda until now. We don't know what precise accusations are meant, and therefore I just can't answer your question," Peskov said.
The Kremlin does not have information on said cyberattacks, he said.
"In order to answer your question one needs to answer what [hacking] groups, why they are connected to Russia, who attacked who, what the result was, what the attack consisted in, and how Microsoft learned about it. If all these questions are answered, one can think about an answer," Peskov said.
"We don't have such information. Microsoft is making the allegations. Therefore, Microsoft has to clarify these issues," he said.
Microsoft Vice President Tom Burt earlier said the company had registered a massive phishing attack on U.S. government establishments and analytical centers.
Russian hackers who are somehow connected to the attack on the IT company SolarWinds may be behind this attack, Burt said. The attack is apparently one of the numerous attempts made by Russian hackers to "target government agencies involved in foreign policy as part of intelligence-gathering efforts," he said.