Russian officials have rejected allegations that Russian hackers breached Qatar’s state news agency and planted a fake news story that contributed to a split between Qatar and three of its GCC neighbours.
Andrei Krutskhikh, the Russian president’s special envoy for cybersecurity, told the Interfax news agency that Tuesday’s CNN report contains “zero evidence” that the Russian government was behind the news story.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen have all cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing the Gulf state of funding terrorism and backing Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran, which Qatar has denied.
Tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia bubbled to the surface two weeks ago when Qatar said its state-run news agency and its Twitter account were hacked to publish a fake story claiming the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had called Iran “a regional and Islamic power that cannot be ignored.”
State-linked media in the region ignored Qatar’s denial and continued to report the comments. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt blocked access to Al Jazeera and launched an aggressive campaign accusing Qatar of supporting terrorist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State, destabilizing the region and stabbing its allies in the back.
Putin had a telephone conversation with the emir of Qatar Tuesday, urging dialogue. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the allegations of Russian hacking weren’t discussed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also dismissed the CNN report, saying it “further undermined its reputation as an independent and objective media outlet.”
“CNN and some other media sit and wait for any kind of scandal … to automatically and without any evidence blame it on Russia or Russian hackers,” he said.
