British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he was “absolutely confident” in allegations by the UK and its allies that Russia targeted labs conducting coronavirus research, branding the behaviour “outrageous and reprehensible”, AFP reported.

“We're absolutely confident that the Russian intelligence agencies were engaged in a cyber attack on research and development efforts in organisations in this country and internationally with a view either to sabotage or to profit,” he told Sky News.

However Andrei Kelin, who was appointed Moscow's top envoy in Britain last November, ridiculed the claims in a BBC interview.

“I don't believe in this story at all, there is no sense in it,” he said, adding he had learned about the hacking collective's existence from British media reports. “In this world, to attribute any kind of computer hackers to any country, it is impossible.”