Russian Ambassador Calls Canada Hacking Allegations 'Hysteria,' Western Propaganda

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Allegations of Russia being behind the recent cyber attack on the Canadian Foreign Ministry is hysteria and part of self-produced Western propaganda, Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov told Sputnik.

On Monday, local media outlet Global News said Global Affairs Canada, the country's foreign ministry, was the target of a multiday cyber attack. The outlet, citing unnamed sources, said the Canadian government is concerned the attack was conducted by Russia-linked hackers.

"It is just hysteria, self-produced anti-Russian Western propaganda," Stepanov said. "The embassy in Canada has repeatedly publicly stated that no invasion of Ukraine is planned and attributing some kind of malicious intent to us in the form of cyber attacks is simply absurd."

Russia, he said, is not engaged in any illegal sabotage activities in cyberspace.

"On the contrary, Russia is the leader of international efforts to strengthen cooperation of all states in the fight against threats to international information security," Stepanov said. "Unfortunately, the situation with the demonization of Russia has gone so far that any event taking place in the world that cannot be immediately identified and attributed to someone is immediately blamed on Russia, because this is a win-win method in the Western media and political circles."

Last week, Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) warned critical infrastructure operators to enhance their defenses against alleged Russian threats, Global News reported.

Tensions between Russia and Western countries escalated recently amid allegations related to Moscow's military buildup near Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied Western countries' accusations, pointing to NATO's military activities close to Russia. Moscow's stance is that it does not threaten anyone and has the right to move troops within its national sovereignty.