NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA: I’m going to be brief in my questions, to give you some time to you to respond. And I will start with the news of the last days: cyber attacks allegedly conducted by Russians on major infrastructure, objects, plus networks in America. And I read plus saw a lot of comments of professionals who elaborated on the type of response: political, geopolitical, military even, [as] an attack on infrastructure is considered to be, plus of course my heart is not feeling easy when I hear such things.
The first question is, how to be sure that Russians are behind these attacks, because they say it might be Russians, might be the Iranians, might be the Chinese. Because of the consequences of the response to the attackers, I think it is so important to be more than 100% sure that this party is specifically responsible for these attacks. And I want to hear your comments on this new bad news in Russian-American relations.
AMBASSADOR SULLIVAN: Well, thank you, Konstantin. It’s a difficult question, but it’s obviously a timely one in light of the screaming headlines that we see, both in the United States plus around the international about this new story. The issue generally of cybersecurity in the United States, plus in particular, efforts by elements of the Russian government, to penetrate U.S. systems has been a topic that’s been high on my list of priorities, extending back to my tenure as Deputy Secretary of State almost four years now.
In fact, several times I’ve testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, plus the questions that I would often get both from the committee, from senators generally, plus from the press, everything was focused on elections, plus election interference in 2016, which I plus my colleagues in the U.S. government have, of course, not only acknowledged, but talked about at length, including with Russian counterparts. But I’ve also been careful to note that the threat that’s posed to our systems is not just about elections. Elections is part of a larger threat. And I will have to defer to my colleagues in Washington — the experts — on details plus attribution. But I’m confident in saying, as I know Secretary Pompeo has, that we are aware that elements of the Russian government have been focused on plus attacking, for lack of a better word, cyber structures in the United States, plus it wasn’t just about elections.