THE HAGUE, Jan 26 (AFP): Dutch intelligence services have provided "crucial evidence" to US counterparts about Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, Dutch media reported Friday.
After penetrating the network of Russian hackers known as Cozy Bear, the Dutch agents alerted US spy chiefs as they watched the Russians transfer "thousands" of Democratic Party emails ahead of the presidential vote.
The Dutch national intelligence service (AIVD) had been watching the notorious group since 2014, according to the respected Volkskrant daily, and a Dutch TV news programme Nieuwsuur.
They have provided "crucial evidence of the Russian involvement" as well as "technical" proof in the hacking of the US Democratic Party, the reports said, citing anonymous US and Dutch sources.
After digging themselves by chance into the Russians' computer network run out of a university building near Moscow's Red Square, the Dutch agents also gained access to the security cameras surveilling the room.
"Not only can the intelligence service now see what the Russians are doing, they can also see who's doing it," the Volkskrant said.
The AIVD alerted its US counterparts when in 2015 it became a "witness to the Russian hackers harassing and penetrating the leaders of the Democratic Party, transferring thousands of emails and documents," it said.
"Yet, it will be months before the United States realise what this warning means: that with these hacks the Russians have interfered with the American elections. And the AIVD hackers have seen it happening before their very eyes."
Pictures obtained from the security cameras, led the AIVD to conclude that Cozy Bear is directed by Russia's external intelligence agency, the SVR.
Cozy Bear has been widely blamed for meddling in the American elections won by Republican President Donald Trump.
