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US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, on the right, speaks with British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson ahead of signing ceremony after NATO Defense Ministers meet at NATO Headquarters Brussels, Wednesday 3 October 2018. (Francisco Seco, Pool / Associated Press)
BRUSSELS – Britain's Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson on Thursday called a series of global cyber attacks on Russia for the irresponsible actions of a "pariah state" and said the UK and its allies NATO would unveil such activities in the future.
"When Russia acts blindly and recklessly, it will expose them," Williamson told reporters in Brussels during talks with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and their counterparts in NATO.
His remarks were made after British and Australian officials said that the Russian military intelligence unit GRU was behind a wave of cyber attacks around the world. The UK National Cyber Security Center reports that four new attacks are associated with the GRU as well as previous cyberattacks.
He cites the attacks on the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Ukrainian transport systems, the 2016 US presidential race and other very likely causes of the GRU's work.
British officials blamed the GRU for the attack by a nervous agent in March from former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury. Russia denies any involvement.
The revelation comes as the United States, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands were to offer their cyber-offensive capabilities to the NATO military alliance to fight such attacks.
"We will not lean back. We're going to actually say that where Russia is doing, we're going to expose that action, "said Williamson.
"These are not the actions of a great power. These are the actions of a pariah state, and we will continue to work with allies to isolate them; make them understand that they can not continue to behave this way, "he said.
Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australian intelligence agencies agreed that GRU "is responsible for this type of malicious cyber-activity." and disrupted civilian infrastructure elsewhere.
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Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
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