The Russian embassy in Norway said allegations by the Norwegian government that Russia had carried out a computer attack on the Norwegian parliament this summer were “a serious and deliberate provocation” that would damage bilateral relations. The Norwegian Foreign Minister says there are indications of the Russian government’s involvement in the burglary.
The attack took place on August 24 and e-mails from members of parliament and staff were stolen. Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide said today that the government had information referring to Russia but that an investigation was still ongoing.
The hacking of the parliament’s computer system has been linked to disputes between the Norwegian and Russian governments over an alleged Russian spy who was deported by Norway earlier in August.
The Russian embassy in Oslo responded to the allegations in a statement posted on its Facebook page today. It called the allegations “unacceptable” and “serious and deliberate provocation”. It also accused the Norwegian government of rejecting talks on cybercrime, according to a report by the Russian state news agency TASS .
Earlier this year, the Norwegian military warned that the Kremlin was trying to break up propaganda campaigns aimed at weakening public confidence in the government, elections, and the media according to the BBC .
Russian government hackers broke into the e-mails of Democratic politicians in the United States and made headlines in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
