Moscow: Russia to Resume Cybersecurity Cooperation With US When Washington Ready

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia will resume its cooperation with the United States on cybersecurity as soon as Washington is ready, corresponding proposals have been passed onto the US side, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov has said.

"We are ready for dialogue with the US side on this issue. We have accumulated positive experience in this aspect. The cooperation will resume as soon as Washington is ready for it. We have given relevant proposals to the US side many times. We believe that the ball is in the US court," he told RIA Novosti.

The diplomat added that Russia and the United States were leaders in the area of information and communication technologies, thus it would be more rational to cooperate than to exchange accusations.

The cooperation on cybersecurity between Russia and the United States was actively developing in the period from 2009 to 2013 when the administration of former US President Barack Obama initiated a reset of relations with Russia. Since 2014, however, the cooperation has been suspended against the background of the Ukrainian crisis, with alleged Russian interference in this conflict and Crimea's reunification with Russia.

During G20 Summit in Germany's Hamburg, US President Donald Trump announced after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow and Washington would create a joint working group on cybersecurity to discourage any possible cyberattacks on election and election campaigns, but he had abandoned this idea after sharp criticism in the United States.