Russia rejects vaccine research hacking allegations

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia on Friday rejected the UK’s allegations that a group of Russian-linked hackers tried to steal secrets of UK, US and Canadian organizations working on a coronavirus vaccine

"We deny these allegations. We do not know who and what tried to hack in the UK, but Russia definitely has nothing to do with this. We ourselves constantly face similar attempts [...] Our establishments constantly repel these attacks. This is a common problem, but we strongly disagree with the unfounded accusations against us," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

In an advisory on Thursday, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) detailed “activity of the threat group known as APT29,” and said drug companies and research groups were targeted.

The agency said, according to their assessment, APT29, also named the Dukes or Cozy Bear, was “almost certainly” part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.

Responding to the allegations, Peskov said he was unaware of the group and to which country it belongs.

In a separate statement, Kirill Dmitriyev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said the allegation is "an attempt to discredit Russia’s developments of COVID-19 vaccine.”