NATO Nears Launching 'Cyberattacks Against a Potential Enemy' - Russian Intel

NATO's designation of cyberspace as a new operational area means that the bloc is ready legalize carrying out cyberattacks there.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) classification of cyberspace as a new operational area carries serious risks to global security, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin said Thursday.

"A serious threat to regional and global stability is presented in the NATO allies' fundamental decision to recognize cyberspace as one of the areas of armed struggle," Naryshkin said at the VI Moscow Conference on International Security.

On April 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc considers cyberspace as a possible new dimension of warfare.

NATO's designation, Naryshkin argued, "is about legalizing the planning and carrying out of cyberattacks by NATO against a potential enemy."