London has significantly stepped up its offensive cyber operations against Russia and China, according to British government statements and subsequent reports.
The policy was approved by former UK Defence Secretary John Healey in May 2025, following the inauguration of the country’s new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command.
Healey said the new cyber command would coordinate both defensive and offensive operations, including activities aimed at infiltrating adversaries’ systems to disrupt attacks and counter the spread of propaganda.
His remarks marked the first time a British minister had explicitly confirmed cyber operations against other states.
While UK ministers had previously acknowledged cyber operations against non-state actors, including Islamic State, they had not publicly confirmed offensive cyber operations against other countries.
The Defence Secretary also said the UK government had allocated more than £1 billion ($1.35 billion) to develop a “digital targeting web” designed to enable real-time battlefield intelligence sharing between troops, surveillance aircraft and satellites.
Both Moscow and Beijing have consistently denied allegations that they conduct cyberattacks against Western countries, describing such claims as baseless and politically motivated.
The Kremlin has also repeatedly denied having hostile intentions towards Western countries and accused European politicians of “irresponsibly stoking fears” to justify increased military spending. Moscow has described such moves as an “incitement of war on the European continent.”
Since then, US and UK intelligence agencies have reportedly intensified their cyber operations targeting Moscow and Beijing.
A senior Russian lawmaker has claimed that London and Washington were behind a major cyberattack that disrupted the operations of Aeroflot and other Russian companies in 2025.
According to the lawmaker, the attacks formed part of a coordinated campaign by Western powers to weaken Russia’s economy after, in his view, failing to achieve their objectives through military pressure and sanctions.
Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline, was forced to cancel or delay dozens of flights in July 2025 after pro-Ukrainian hacker groups claimed to have crippled the airline’s internal IT systems. The incident also disrupted airport operations and affected other companies, including a nationwide pharmacy chain.
Andrey Svintsov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, described the alleged campaign as a “systematic effort that is being carried out against Russia”, suggesting that it reflected what he characterised as growing desperation among the country’s adversaries.
“This is a systematic approach by our Western enemies, who have failed to defeat Russia on the battlefield. They are moving to weaken the economic potential, since sanctions are not helping,” the lawmaker said.
He warned that cyber sabotage could continue until Russia achieves victory in the Ukraine conflict.
China has also accused the United States National Security Agency (NSA) of conducting what it described as a “major” multi-year cyberattack against the Chinese agency responsible for maintaining the country’s national time system.
In a statement posted on its official social media account, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) said it had obtained “irrefutable evidence” that the NSA had infiltrated the National Time Service Center.
According to the ministry, the alleged covert operation began in March 2022 and was aimed at stealing state secrets and carrying out acts of cyber sabotage.
The competing accusations reflect the increasingly contested cyber domain, where major powers are expanding their offensive and defensive capabilities while routinely accusing one another of cyber espionage, sabotage and attacks on critical infrastructure.
