Ukraine's Foreign Ministry / REUTERS

Ukraine has called on the international community to continue pressure on the Russian Federation for violations in cyberspace.

This is stated in a comment by Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) with regard to a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo charging Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers for сyber crimes.

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"Ukraine fully trusts the recently published results of the investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the indictment of six employees of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate for their involvement in a number of cyber attacks around the world, namely in Ukraine, the United States, France, Georgia, and South Korea," the comment says.

The ministry stresses Ukraine fully supports a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemning in the strongest possible terms the Russian Federation's continuing disruptive, destructive, and destabilizing activities in cyberspace.

"These cyber activities demonstrate a complete disregard for public safety and international stability," the comment said.

The ministry says Ukraine reconfirms its stance that the norms and principles of international law are fully applied to the behavior of states in cyberspace, and that those responsible for cyber attacks should be held accountable.

"Ukraine appeals to the international community to continue coordinated pressure on Russia to stop its systematic violations of norms and principles of international law, in particular, the use of cyber instruments for malicious purposes, threatening the security of global cyberspace," the comment said.

U.S. charges

The criminal charges the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on October 19, 2020, against six officers of the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate's (GRU) Military Unit 74455 highlight once again Russia's continuing disruptive, destructive, and destabilizing activities in cyberspace.

"As the DOJ and FBI make clear, this Russian military intelligence unit unleashed some of the most destructive malware the world has seen. The 2017 NotPetya cyber attack, which we publicly attributed previously to Russian military intelligence, was launched in Ukraine and caused billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The GRU's action disrupted the delivery of critical infrastructure services to the public, including in the transportation and healthcare sectors," Pompeo said in the statement.

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