Foreign Intel Chief: Biden Accuses Russia of Disinformation to Excuse Dems' Possible Midterm Defeat

Washington previously accused Moscow of orchestrating the massive SolarWinds hack and pressured the country over not doing more to tackle domestic hackers that recently launched global ransomware attacks. Russia has denied the allegations of engaging in malign cyberactitivies, but agreed to cooperate in catching the cybercriminals.

US President Joe Biden's recent claims that Russia was trying to meddle in the US 2022 midterm elections with "disinformation" is just his way of hedging against the risk of a Democratic Party defeat, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin has stated. He added that it has become "a bit boring already" to hear the same groundless accusations all over again – "it's like a broken record".

"We understand why and in pursuit of what goals the US president is talking about this. The Democratic Party is preparing for the midterm elections in 2022 and, obviously, feels some uncertainty and is looking for arguments in case the elections are not successful for the Democratic Party, and therefore for [...] Biden", the spy chief said.

Naryshkin also noted that the US is focusing on looking for scapegoats and external enemies instead of figuring out the internal roots of their problems when it comes to dealing with the recent cyberattacks and Moscow's alleged role in them.

Biden claimed in his address to members of the US Intelligence Community on 28 July that Russia had already begun "violating US sovereignty" and meddling in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.

"Look what Russia is doing already about the 2022 elections and misinformation", Biden said.

The US president, however, failed to elaborate on what his intelligence officers should look at, since he did not offer any proof or evidence to back up his claims. Moscow has routinely rejected claims of meddling in US elections or carrying out offensive cyber operations against Washington. Just as routinely, the Kremlin has pointed out that the US time and time again fails to present any evidence to the public proving Russia's involvement in the US' problems. At the same time, Moscow positively received Biden's offer to cooperate in catching the cybercriminals involved in ransomware attacks against American companies and operating from Russia's territory.