Foreign Ministry: CIA cyber attack will not take Russia by surprise

Russia received information about a possible cyberattack by the CIA on Russia with alarm and concern, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

“For us, this is all alarming and causes great concern, because Russia has become a card that is being played in the pre-election struggle of the Americans,” told Interfax. Ryabkov

At the same time, the deputy foreign minister assured that “a new portion of threats will not take us by surprise, and, moreover, we cannot“ cave in ”under these threats. He called media reports of a possible attack "shouts in the bazaar."

According to Ryabkov, the US authorities do not realize the "seriousness of such actions." He also said that the Russian side had previously offered the United States to hold consultations with the participation of experts in the field of cybersecurity and representatives of departments, but they were not interested.

A possible cyber attack was commented on by Edward Snowden and the Wikileaks website. Snowden joked that US Vice President Joe Biden did not know the meaning of the phrase "covert operation", as Wikileaks pointed out on Twitter. Wikileaks also noted that the cyberattack should not be handled by the CIA, but by the NSA.

Earlier, NBC reported , citing US intelligence sources, that the CIA had been ordered to prepare for cyberattacks against Russia in response to alleged interference by Russian-hired hackers in the US election campaign.

Joe Biden said the US will respond to cyberattacks "at our option and under the circumstances of the strongest impact."

The Kremlin called the US threat “rudeness” and promised not to leave it without a reaction.