West and Russia wage Cold War 2.0 online

the hague — Western powers accused Russia on Thursday of orchestrating a string of global cyber attacks including an audacious plot to hack the world’s chemical weapons watchdog in The Netherlands.

The United States indicted seven alleged Russian members of the GRU military intelligence agency over attacks on targets including the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the US Democratic party, world sports bodies and US nuclear energy company Westinghouse. The charges came as part of a joint crackdown by Britain, The Netherlands, Canada and the United States against a string of hacking attempts by what London called “pariah state” Russia.

In scenes reminiscent of a Cold War spy novel, Dutch security services said they had expelled four Russian GRU agents in April after they attempted a cyber-attack on the OPCW, from a car parked in a nearby hotel.

The OPCW was at the time probing the nerve agent poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal in the English town of Salisbury, and an alleged chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma by the Moscow-backed regime in Damascus.

The Dutch and British prime ministers Mark Rutte and Theresa May in a joint statement accused the GRU of “disregard for global values” and lashed out at the Russian agency’s “unacceptable cyber activities”.

The Russians were tracked from their arrival in Amsterdam on diplomatic passports in April, and then seen hiring a Citroen car which they parked outside the Marriott hotel next to the OPCW.

When Dutch agents swooped on April 13 they found electronic equipment in the boot of the car to intercept the OPCW’s wifi and log in codes, including an antenna hidden in the back of the car and facing the chemical weapons watchdog. Investigations found the Russians had originally taken a taxi from GRU barracks in Moscow to the airport, for which Dutch agents later found a receipt from their hotel. Some of their mobile phones were also activated in Moscow near the agency’s headquarters. —

GENEVA — The United States hinted on Thursday it might withdraw from a landmark Cold War nuclear arms reduction treaty if Russia does not stop “violating” the accord.

Washington has complained for nearly two years that a ground-launched missile system deployed by Russia breaches the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

“This situation is untenable, and we have to take measures to deal with this continued violation of this very important treaty,” US ambassador on disarmament Robert Wood told reporters in Geneva. —