Biden: FBI says Putin uninvolved in Colonial Pipeline cyberattack

WASHIGNTON, May 14 (PRIME) – Russian President Vladimir Putin was not involved in the devastating ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, U.S. President Joe Biden said late on Thursday.

“I am confident that I’ve read the report of the FBI accurately. And they say they were not, he was not. The government was not,” Biden said at the White House when asked if Putin was involved.

The pipelinereopened on Wednesday night amid reports that the company paid a $5 million ransom to the cybercriminals.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has recently said the Russian government has “some responsibility” to address the hack because it’s “the country where individuals are located, even as a criminal network.”

The Colonial Pipeline carries gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast northward to New Jersey. It shut down over the weekend, causing a large share of gas stations to run dry from Florida to Maryland. The national average gas price spiked to a seven-year high.

The US government believes that a Russia-based criminal enterprise known as DarkSide is responsible. Russian cybercriminals often are alleged to have some association with the Kremlin.

Biden said on Monday that there’s “no evidence” that the Russian government is behind the hack. He is to meet with Putin in June in Europe during his first foreign trip as president.

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