Netherlands says Russia tried cyberattack on global chemical weapons agency

The Netherlands’ defense and intelligence services, in conjunction with British partners, disrupted a cyberattack operation by Russian military intelligence agents in April targeting the United Nations’ chemical weapons watchdog agency, the Dutch defense chief announced on Thursday. Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld-Schouten made the announcement alongside Britain’s ambassador to the Netherlands, saying the alleged operation to attack the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was disrupted on April 13. 

At the news conference, the head of the Netherlands’ military intelligence agency identified four men as the Russian agents behind the alleged GRU operation and said they were expelled from the Netherlands immediately when the plot was thwarted in April. Dutch Major General Onno Eichelsheim showed images of a rental vehicle that was discovered parked near the OPCW headquarters in The Hague, full of computer equipment and transformers used in the alleged plot.

He said the Russian agents arrived in the Netherlands three days before the plot was disrupted on April 13.

The revelation of the plot and the successful thwarting of it came just hours after Britain’s Defense Minister Gavin Williamson, at a NATO summit with U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and other allies, called Russia’s cyberattacks of recent years the “actions of a pariah state,” and vowed that NATO would “be exposing” Moscow’s nefarious acts.   

British Ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Wilson said the plot against the OPCW showed “complete disregard” by Russia to the agency’s mission to investigate illegal chemical weapons attacks around the world. He noted that the plot was disrupted in April as the OPCW worked to confirm Britain’s allegations that GRU agents attempted to murder Russian ex-double agent Sergei Skripal in England, and to confirm an alleged chemical attack by Syria’s Russian-backed military in Douma, Syria.

“The disruption of this attempted attack on the OPCW was down to the expertise and the professionalism of the Dutch security services in partnership with the United Kingdom,” Wilson said. “The OPCW is a respected international organization which is working to rid the world of chemical weapons. Hostile action against it demonstrates complete disregard for this vital mission.”

Dutch Defense Minister Bijleveld-Schouten said the Russian intelligence officers had also targeted the Netherlands-based investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine.

“We have been aware of the interest of Russian intelligence services in this investigation and have taken appropriate measures.” she said. “We remain very alert about this.”  

Ambassador Wilson said Britain and the Netherlands would be “stepping up our combined activity against” the GRU. We will shine a light on their activities. We will expose their methods, and we will share this with our allies.” He said increased sanctions against Russia would be sought in retaliation for Moscow’s “malign activity.”

Bijleveld-Schouten said the U.S. Department of Justice would disclose charges later on Thursday against Russian intelligence officers involved in alleged cyberattacks. She said the Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands had been summoned on Thursday to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be reprimanded for Moscow’s “unacceptable” behavior.