Yahoo hack: Russia denies involvement after US charges two FSB officers over 'state-sponsored' cyber attack

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The Russian government says that its agents weren't involved in hacking 500 million Yahoo accounts after the US charged two spies two spies over a “state-sponsored” cyber attack.

The Kremlin said its FSB domestic intelligence service was not involved in any unlawful activity. It appeared to suggest that no Russian intelligence agents have ever hacked anyone else.

This week it emerged that the US Department of Justice would charge two Russian spies with hacking into Yahoo in one of the biggest cyber attacks in history. It said that FSB agents had paid hackers to steal people's email accounts and try and gather information about journalists and politicians.

Dmitry Peskov claimed Russia had received no official information about the charges and had gleaned all it knew about the case from media reports.

“We have said repeatedly that there can be no discussion of any official involvement of any Russian office, including the FSB being involved in any unlawful cyber activities,” he added.

The Department of Justice announced the prosecutions on Wednesday, calling the 2014 hack “one of the largest data breaches in US history”.

“The defendants include two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), an intelligence and law enforcement agency of the Russian Federation and two criminal hackers with whom they conspired to accomplish these intrusions, “ said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord.

“The Department of Justice is continuing to send the powerful message that we will not allow individuals, groups, nation states or a combination of them to compromise the privacy of our citizens, the economic interests of our companies, or the security of our country.”

She named two FSB officers, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, who allegedly directed and paid hackers Alexsey Belan and Karim Baratov.

They are accused of targeting the Yahoo accounts of Russian and American government officials, including cyber security, diplomatic and military personnel, as well as Russian journalists other network providers and financial services employees.