Czech Foreign Ministry summons Russian envoy over 'cyberattacks'

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - The Czech Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to the country over "cyberattacks" by a Russian-controlled hacker group, local media reported on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky today summoned the Russian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Alexander Zmejevsky, to the Cernin Palace due to cyberattacks on Czech institutions and critical infrastructure, said the public broadcaster Radio Prague.

However, the Russian state-run TASS news agency, citing the embassy, said that Ambassador Zmejevsky "categorically rejected the accusations made by Prague, unsupported - as in other well-known cases from recent years - by even a single real evidence.”

On May 3, the Czech Foreign Ministry announced the Russian-controlled group APT28, which is associated with the Russian military secret service GRU, has been targeting Czech institutions for a year.

Moreover, on the same day, Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said his country's infrastructure had recently experienced such attacks.

"The attacks were orchestrated by the Russian Federation and its military intelligence service GRU," Rakusan told reporters at a news conference with his German counterpart Nancy Faeser.

The Czech Republic, a member of the EU and NATO, has maintained a strong anti-Russian stance in reaction to the war in Ukraine.

Like many other Western nations, the Czech Republic has provided military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the start of the war in February 2022.

In late April, Czech police blamed the GRU for being behind two blasts at an eastern Czech ammunition depot in 2014 that killed two local workers.

The Czech Republic maintained that Russia refused to cooperate in a probe into the incident.