On Friday, the US Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security said in a joint statement that the United States believes the Russian government is responsible for recent hacking incidents of US institutions related to the upcoming elections.
"When I discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Kerry last time, I offered him that we have had some consultations. After all, we also do not want our nationals to engage in cybercrime. This can be turned against Russia. We do not want to cause any damage to other countries as well. It is funny, that there is quite a hysterical campaign underway in the context of the election debates [suggesting] that we have hacked the sites of the Democratic Party and Pentagon," Lavrov told Russia's Channel One broadcaster in an interview.
"He [Kerry] replied that it was a wonderful idea and he would look into it," the foreign minister said adding that the idea never took off.
Russian Prosecutor General's Office offered the US Department of Justice cooperation in the fight against cybercrimes in 2015 but Washington made it clear that it was not interested, Lavrov stressed.
