WASHINGTON, February 22. /TASS/: The United States shirks meaningful discussions of information security issues with Russia, but at the same time accuses Moscow of cyber-attacks against Georgia, thus resorting to tabloid journalism methods, the Russian embassy in Washington said on its Facebook page on Friday.
"We are disappointed, but not surprised by just one more groundless accusation against Russia in connection with the alleged cyber-attack on Georgia in October 2019. It is regrettable that American diplomats, once famous for their high professionalism, ever more often resort to the methods of tabloid journalists in their work. The main thing for them is to make a splash."
It is deplorable that the United States ever more often neglects the norms of international law postulating that accusations against sovereign states must be accompanied by evidence. The U.S. and the West in general today opts for the so-called "rule-based order" - a situation where speculations, supported by a sufficient number of "allies and partners" are presented as "the ultimate truth", the embassy said.
Russia is ready for an expert dialogue over all pressing issues on the international agenda. Ensuring information security is one of these. Unfortunately, the counterparts are reluctant to have substantive discussions and prefer to replace professional diplomacy with its "megaphone" variety.
On Thursday, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vladimir Konstantinidi came out with allegations that last October’s massive cyberattack against his country’s government and commercial sites was carried out by the Russian General Staff’s intelligence directorate. He argued that the investigation conducted by the Georgian side and also information obtained by Tbilisi from foreign partners pointed in the same direction. A number of Western countries supported Tbilisi’s charges. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Washington would offer assistance to Georgia to bolster its ability to protect itself from alleged Russian attacks.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday dismissed these charges as groundless fakes, adding that their political bias was more than obvious. The commentary said that the charges the United States, Britain, Georgia and a number of other countries put forward looked amazingly synchronized. Also, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed regret Georgia continued its attempts to demonize Russia, while showing no intention of deriving lessons from last year’s crisis.
