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Russia says French hacking allegations ‘absurd’

The Kremlin denied Tuesday that Russian hackers were behind cyberattacks on French companies, after a French security agency said it had registered breaches similar to those carried out by groups linked to Russian intelligence.

“Russia has never had, currently does not have and could never have any involvement in cybercrime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

France’s national cybersecurity agency said Monday the hackers had taken advantage of a vulnerability in monitoring software sold by French group Centreon, which lists blue-chip French companies as clients.

The agency said the attacks — carried about between 2017 and 2020 — bore “several similarities” to previous breaches believed to have been carried out by hackers with links to Russian military intelligence.

Peskov said it was outlandish to pin responsibility on Moscow based on the allegations which did not explicitly place blame on Russia.

“This wording is a little bit absurd and we can’t really say that Russia was accused of something,” he said.

The Kremlin has previously denied US claims that Russian intelligence was behind cyberattacks targeting Ukraine’s power grid, the 2017 French election and the 2018 Winter Olympic Games among other hacks.