Russia in talks with US over cyber security

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Russia and the US are meeting to form a cyber security working group, Russia's RIA news agency reported on Thursday.

Moscow and Washington are in talks to create a joint cyber security working group, Russia's RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing Andrey Krutskikh, a special presidential envoy on cyber security.

"The talks are underway ... different proposals are being exchanged, nobody denies the necessity of holding the talks and of having such contacts," said Krutskikh.

Svetlana Lukash, a Russian official who was at the recent G20 summit of global leaders in Hamburg, said earlier this month that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump had agreed to discuss cyber security questions, either via the United Nations or as part of a working group.

However, US and European intelligence and security officials said on Thursday they were not participating in the talks, which they said were confined to mid-level political officials.

One of the officials, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity, said cooperation on cyber security was a "pipe dream" while Russia continues to deny that it hacked last year's US presidential election, as three US intelligence agencies concluded publicly in January.

Moscow and Washington are reportedly in talks to create a joint cyber security working group. /VCG Photo

On an Air Force One flight home from Europe last weekend, Thomas Bossert, Trump's top counterterrorism adviser, told reporters it would be premature to suggest the US would be talking to Russia about a possible cyber security "partnership".

"I don't believe that the United States and Russia have come to that point yet in cyberspace," Bossert said.

"And until we do, we wouldn't have the conversation about partnership. But we had to have a dialogue, and that's where we'll start."

Trump said earlier this month he had discussed the idea of creating such a group with Putin at the Hamburg summit.

Senior US Republicans greeted the idea with incredulity, saying Moscow could not be trusted, and Trump later appeared to back away, saying in a post on Twitter: "The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't."

Widespread concern and confusion about the possible cyber working group reflects the Trump administration’s struggles to articulate a clear approach to international cyber security issues amid inconsistent statements by the president and ongoing personnel changes.

White House cyber coordinator Rob Joyce told reporters on Wednesday that no final decision had been made about Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, but said the State Department would continue to play a prominent role in developing cyber norms and brokering international agreements.

(Source: Reuters)