The British Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador in London on Thursday (15/04/2021) due to “malicious activity” attributed to Moscow, including cyber attacks and troop movements on the Ukrainian border.
“The British government is extremely concerned about the tendency of the Russian state to engage in malicious activity,” a British diplomatic spokesman said in a statement.
On Thursday, the US administration announced to Joe Biden, a series of financial sanctions against Moscow and the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats.
It was in response to the massive 2020 cyber attack, now officially attributed to Russia, that was used as a vector for SolarWinds, a US software company whose product has been compromised to infiltrate its users, including several federal agencies, Americans.
The Foreign Office reported that Ambassador André Killin, who was summoned in London, was informed of the British services’ findings that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) was behind the attack via SolarWinds.
It has also been reported that the United Kingdom will continue to work with its allies to denounce and combat Russian intelligence operations.
He added that London “has raised concerns of the United Kingdom about the Russian military forces on the Ukrainian border and in the illegally occupied Crimea.”
“These activities threaten and destabilize,” the ministry added. “Russia must stop its provocations and put an end to the escalation of tensions.”
Last March, Killin accused the British government of violating the NPT by increasing its reserves of a nuclear warhead by 40%, and warned that the political relationship between the two countries was “almost dead”.
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