US authorities poisoning atmosphere of Russia-US relations: Ryabkov

The United States is "poisoning" the atmosphere of Russia-United States relations with new unfounded accusations against Russia, taking a dangerous path to fuel tensions between the two nuclear powers, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers announced on Thursday that the United States has filed charges against seven alleged Russian military intelligence officers for taking part in a conspiracy to hack US, Canadian and international organizations.

"We regret to see how the US authorities continue to poison the atmosphere of Russia-US relations with new portions of baseless accusations against Russia, which some other NATO countries rush to repeat on orders from Washington. The Western public is again being threatened by Russian hackers, this time allegedly involved in breaking into computer networks almost all over the world," Ryabkov said in a commentary.

According to Ryabkov, Washington continues to feed the domestic and international public with false information in order to justify further sanctions and other methods of applying pressure on Russia.

"Russia has become accustomed to such methods used by the US, but deliberately heightening tensions between nuclear powers and on the international arena is a dangerous path," Ryabkov added.