Sweden Summons Russian Ambassador Over Alleged Cyberattacks On Sports Confederation- Linde

The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Russian ambassador to explain the alleged breaches of the Swedish Sports Confederation's computer system by the Russian military intelligence, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2021) The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Russian ambassador to explain the alleged breaches of the Swedish Sports Confederation's computer system by the Russian military intelligence, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said.

"Unacceptable serious breaches of data secrecy against the Swedish Sports Confederation, that violates existing norms. The Russian ambassador was summoned to the MFA to give an explanation," Linde tweeted on Tuesday evening.

According to the Swedish Prosecution Authority, the sports organization's IT system was the target of repeated cyberattacks from December 2017 to May 2018.

"The investigation shows that the Russian military intelligence, GRU who, via its 85th Center, also known as unit 26165, has planned and carried out the serious breaches of data secrecy against the Swedish Sports Confederation. We can further state that the breaches have been a part of a Russian campaign directed against national and international anti-doping organisations such as WADA and USADA.

The campaign has also been directed against FIFA," public prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said, as quoted in the statement.

The authority added that the investigation would be discontinued due to the lack of the essential preconditions for taking legal proceedings abroad.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on the Soloviev LIVE YouTube broadcast on Wednesday morning that Moscow would look into this matter.

"The news just broke out, so we still need to see what it's about. But it is also strange, usually, Sweden is worried about our submarines," Zakharova noted.

Cyberattacks in Western countries are often blamed on foreign actors, namely Russia, often without providing evidence to back the allegations. Moscow has repeatedly refuted the accusations and called for multilateral dialogue on cybersecurity.