Western intelligence agencies foiled the Russian attempt to violate information from the Swiss chemical laboratory

Western intelligence agencies have thwarted a plot that saw the involvement of two Russian hackers who wanted to go to a laboratory that investigates nuclear and biological weapons, to violate information systems and steal digital information.

According to reports from the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad and the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, the two men were arrested in The Hague at the beginning of the 2018. According to the two reports, the two Russians were found in possession of equipment and equipment useful for compromising and violating computer networks. The two Russians are believed to be working for GRU, Russia's leading military intelligence agency.

The laboratory, located in the western Swiss city of Spiez, was commissioned by the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate the poisoning of Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia which took place last March. In addition, the laboratory also investigated the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Russian-backed government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Swiss intelligence secret service (NDB) confirmed the news of the arrest of the two suspects and their expulsion from the Swiss territory. The Swiss agency has also stated that "it has actively collaborated with the Dutch and British partners" helping to prevent "illegal actions against a sensitive Swiss infrastructure". The office of the Swiss capital prosecutor, Bern, stated that the two Russians were the subject of a criminal investigation that began in March 2017 because they were suspected of having violated the computer network of the regional office of the "World Anti-Doping Agency" .

Last April 14, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had obtained the "confidential" report from the Spiez laboratory on the Skripal case "from a confidential source". Report that confirmed the discoveries made previously by a British laboratory. The news has strengthened the hypothesis of the involvement of the two Russian hackers, in fact, considering that the OPCW, of which Russia is a member, states that its protocols do not provide for the dissemination of scientific reports to the member states of the OPCW, understands how Foreign Minister Lavrov came into possession of the document.

As reported by intelNews in March, in the aftermath of the Skripals poisoning, the Dutch government expelled two employees of the Russian embassy in The Hague. In a letter sent to the Dutch parliament on March 26 - the day when a large number of countries announced punitive measures against Russia - the Dutch foreign and internal affairs ministers said they had decided to expel the two Russian diplomats. "In close consultation with allies and partners". The two Russians were ordered to leave the Netherlands within two weeks. It is not known whether the two expelled Russian diplomats are the same ones arrested by the AIA, as their names have not been made public.

A November 2017 parliamentary letter from Dutch Home Affairs Minister Kajsa Ollongren says that Russian intelligence officials are "structurally present" in the Netherlands in various sectors of society to gather secret information. The letter adds that, in addition to traditional secret agents (HUMINT), Russia uses digital means to influence decision-making processes and public opinion in the Netherlands.

Western intelligence agencies foiled the Russian attempt to violate information from the Swiss chemical laboratory

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