Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-18 21:35:45|Editor: xuxin

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MOSCOW, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin said Tuesday that his department was aware of Western plans to conduct cyberattacks against Russia.

"The security services are engaged in preventing attacks," TASS news agency quoted Naryshkin as saying to reporters on the sidelines of an international meeting of senior security officials in Ufa, the capital of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan.

"Of course, the Foreign Intelligence Service has information about plans and intentions to carry out such attacks, and we have informed our authorities about this," he added.

On Saturday, the New York Times disclosed in an article that the United States is stepping up digital incursions into Russia's electric power grid in a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that the New York Times story was fake news for which it must be held fully accountable.

He also called on the newspaper to immediately release its sources to prove the story true.

In comments on Naryshkin's statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said cyberattacks are not a new phenomenon, adding that Russian institutions in major sectors have been targeted by cyberattacks by various Western countries for years.

"This is a big problem, and that's why Putin has repeatedly offered to cooperate with Washington in the cyber security sphere," he said.

According to Peskov, Putin and Trump may discuss the issue of cyberattacks if they hold a meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.