The Bell: FSB officers arrested for treason are suspected of transmitting data about hackers who hacked the servers of the US Democratic Party

The deputy head of the FSB Information Security Center, Colonel Sergei Mikhailov, who was arrested in the case of high treason, and other defendants in the case could have been involved in transferring data to the American authorities about hackers who hacked the servers of the US Democratic Party before the 2016 presidential elections. about this . The Bell told Sources familiar with those involved in the case

Sources of The Bell claim that formally the charges against the defendants in the case are not related to the transfer of data about hackers, but people personally familiar with the arrested told the publication that in fact they “helped American intelligence agencies obtain evidence of the involvement of Russian hackers in last year’s attacks in the United States.”

According to the publication's sources, Mikhailov and FSB officers competed with the GRU (Main Directorate of the General Staff), which also engage in computer attacks. The attack on the servers of the Democratic National Committee ( DNC ), according to American authorities, was directed by the GRU. “The hackers were supervised by both intelligence services, but Mikhailov believed that the FSB was doing it more professionally. He said that “the GRU breaks servers brazenly, clumsily and rudely, this interfered with the work of his department. Traces of GRU attacks were always visible,” The Bell cites data from a friend of the colonel.

also The Bell writes that in the past Mikhailov received additional salary - at least since 1999, he was listed as an employee of the RBC media holding. He was allegedly hired at RBC “through an acquaintance, through the Semenikhin Institute, which is subordinate to the security forces,” part of the building of which is rented by the holding company. One of the publication’s interlocutors said that Mikhailov worked at RBC until approximately 2009. does not provide the amount of his salary The Bell .

also reported that the detentions of Russian hackers abroad may be related to the activities of the arrested FSB CIB officers Rosbalt and Dozhd .

In addition to Mikhailov, the FSB CIB employee Dmitry Dokuchaev, the head of the computer incident investigation department at Kaspersky Lab Ruslan Stoyanov and businessman Georgy Fomchenkov are also involved in the case . All of them are accused of high treason in favor of the United States (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). In the US, Dokuchaev is accused of hacking Yahoo mailboxes.