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Peter Wilson, the UK ambassador to the Netherlands, was speaking alongside Dutch defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert after revelations by the Dutch security services
Russian cyber intelligence officers tried to hack the UK's Foreign Office, a British diplomat has said.
Peter Wilson, the UK ambassador to the Hague, said Russian intelligence officers tried to compromise Foreign Office systems with an attack in March. The accusation comes after Dutch security services said they expelled four Russians over a cyber plot against the global chemical weapons watchdog. That watchdog, based in the Hague, was examining the 4 March Salisbury attack. In a joint statement with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Theresa May said "joint operations" had shone "further light on the unacceptable cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU". Mrs May said the attempted hack of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) demonstrated the GRU's "disregard for the global values". The attempt on the OPCW headquarters followed unsuccessful attacks by the GRU on the Foreign Office and on the defence laboratories at Porton Down, which was also investigating the Salisbury poisoning. Earlier, the UK government accused the GRU of being behind four high-profile cyber-attacks whose targets included included firms in Russia and Ukraine; the US Democratic Party; and a small TV network in the UK. Russia has called the accusations a "diabolical cocktail" of allegations.