The accusation is not likely to relax the atmosphere between the two countries at the same time their leaders meet in Geneva.

Senior US official John Demers, in charge of national security issues at the Justice Ministry on Wednesday accused Russia of protecting hackers based on its soil in exchange for nudges "in areas of government interest" .

"There are a lot of ransomware attacks carried out from Russian territory," he said in a discussion organized by the specialized media Cyberscoop.

The latter added that the Russian government "is not content to tolerate them, it is standing in the way of the efforts of the American authorities to fight them".

A "grotesque" idea

After a series of attacks on American companies, President Joe Biden said he wanted to discuss the issue with his counterpart Vladimir Putin at their summit Wednesday in Geneva.

Moscow has always denied any collusion with cybercriminals.

The strong man of the Kremlin still judged Monday "grotesque" the idea that his country can wage a computer war against the United States.

But, according to John Demers, Russia and China "look the other way" when cybercriminals operate from their soil, "as long as they don't attack Russian or Chinese victims and use their tools and talents. to help the governments of these countries ”.

Sticks in the wheels of American investigators

Worse, Russia is putting sticks in the wheels of American investigators, and in particular their "extradition efforts", he accused.

According to him, if a third country arrests a pirate prosecuted by the American justice system and that person is released on bail, "he is allowed to return to Russia".

Moscow can also issue arrest warrants and request extradition to Russia "without any real charge", just "to have a cover to repatriate them," he said.

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