Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, has denied that his agency was behind cybercrime at SolarWinds.
US and British intelligence officials have blamed Moscow for the attack, which has been followed by US sanctions against Russia.
In the attack last December, hackers put a code in the software created by the American company SolarWinds, which was then downloaded by several US government institutions and European corporations.
“The allegations are a bad detective novel,” Naryshkin told the Russian-language BBC.
Naryshkin is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Asked by the BBC if Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service was responsible for the attack on SolarWinds, Naryshkin said he would be praised if the agency were responsible for such an attack, but he could not “claim for the creative achievements of others ”.
The Russian spy has suggested that the tactics used in the operation were similar to those used by US or British intelligence agencies.
Tensions between Russia and the West have continued to worsen over issues related to cyber-attacks on SolarWinds on US computers, but also over military threats in Ukraine and Russia’s treatment of jailed opposition activist Alexei Navalny.
The US administration of US President Joe Biden has already imposed sanctions and expelled Russian diplomats for a host of US complaints about Russia’s activities, prompting Moscow to take similar action against US diplomats.
