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The Washington Post: Two Russian nationals, Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, have been charged by U.S. officials for their involvement in a spear-phishing campaign aimed at hacking U.S. government agencies, think tanks, journalists, and others. Peretyatko, identified as an FSB officer, and Korinets led the “Callisto Group,” which pursued cyberespionage activities from 2016 to 2022. Their efforts were partly intended to interfere with the 2019 U.K. elections by stealing and releasing documents. Both men, currently believed to be in Russia, face charges of conspiracy to commit computer and wire fraud, along with financial sanctions in the U.S. and U.K.
This indictment is part of broader U.S. efforts to counter Russian hacking and election interference, following similar charges against Russian intelligence officials for their role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Callisto Group’s activities included successful hacks into the U.S. Department of Energy and U.K. think tanks, aiming to disrupt U.K.’s democratic processes, particularly during the Brexit-related elections. The Russian embassy dismissed the allegations as “invented claims.”
The unsealing of these charges coincided with U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron’s visit to Washington to discuss Ukraine support. British officials briefed the Russian ambassador about the investigation findings, criticizing Russia’s aggressive yet largely ineffective attempts to disturb British politics since 2015. The spear-phishing campaign also targeted U.K. parliamentary candidates and involved the release of U.S.-U.K. trade documents, which became a significant issue in the 2019 elections. Jeremy Corbyn, then Labour Party leader, used these documents to accuse Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party of plans to compromise the National Health Service in U.S.-U.K. trade negotiations.
The entire article can be read at the link https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/12/07/british-election-russian-hack-indicted/
