Russia denies reports of hacking Qatar's state news agency

Kremlin reaffirmed its “position in favour of settling crisis situations by political and diplomatic means, through dialogue” to Doha in a phone call on Tuesday

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

07 June, 2017

Russian hackers accused of planting a fake news story on Qatar's official news agency [Getty]

Russian officials are denying allegations that Russian hackers breached Qatar's state news agency and planted a fake news story that led to a split between Qatar and the other Arab nations.

The Russian president's special envoy for cybersecurity told the Interfax news agency Wednesday that Tuesday's CNN report contains "zero evidence" that the Russian government was behind the news story.

Separately, Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the upper chamber of parliament, Wednesday dismissed the accusations as "an attempt to push the US against Russia as key players in the Middle East."

Dzhabarov said the report shows that "the world has gone crazy - whatever happens, there is a Russian trace there, the trace of Russian hackers."

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken by phone with the ruler of Qatar, urging dialogue amid a split between the Gulf state and other Arab countries.

According to the Kremlin, in Tuesday’s phone call with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al-Thani, Putin reaffirmed Russia’s “position in favour of settling crisis situations by political and diplomatic means, through dialogue.”

The terse statement said the two leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation and highly assessed the results of a meeting of an inter-government commission in April.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain all cut off diplomatic contact with Qatar on Monday morning, after officially accusing it of "sponsoring terrorism".

In what appears to be a coordinated move, foreign office officials claimed Qatar was responsible for supporting the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda "at all levels" in an unprecedented diplomatic spat for the Gulf region.

In a tweet sent out early on Monday morning, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "Protecting national security from threats of terrorism and extremism, Saudi Arabia has decided to sever diplomatic and consular relations with the State of Qatar."

Riyadh announced on state television that Qatar would no longer participate in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, claiming Doha had helped support its enemy, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.