US intelligence has accused the authorities of the United Arab Emirates of breaking into the servers of the state news agency of Qatar. Hackers posted on the site fake news, which provoked a major diplomatic scandal in the Arab world. However, representatives of the UAE resolutely rejected the country's involvement in the hacker attack.

Sources in the US intelligence services told the Washington Post reporters that the US government, having analyzed intelligence provided by the intelligence, concluded that the attack on the systems of the Qatar State News Agency (QNA) was planned and implemented by the UAE authorities. The details of the action were allegedly discussed at a meeting of high-ranking members of the government, which occurred on the eve of the attack. It is not yet clear whether the local craftsmen were hacking or the government hired hackers from another country.

The intelligence of Qatar is conducting its own investigation of the incident that occurred on May 24. Its results have not yet been made public. However, the security forces tend to believe that the website of the news agency was hacked at the initiative of the authorities of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Arab country, which turned out to be isolated, at the end of June denied involvement in the scandal of Russian hackers. According to the head of the diplomatic department, Muhammad bin Abdurrahman al-Thani, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation completed its investigation into the cyber attack and informed Doha that Russia does not stand behind it.

Representatives of the authorities of the UAE have already hastened to refute the vile smear of American scouts. "The Washington Post is false. The UAE in the least did not play any role in the cyber attack described in this article, "wrote the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, Youssef al-Otaiba.

The conflict between Qatar and its neighbors in the region erupted after the Qatar news agency in late May posted a speech on behalf of the country's emir, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in support of building relations with Iran. In his speech, the head of state criticized the policy of some countries of the Council of Cooperation of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, directed against Tehran.

In addition, the website of the agency has a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar on the recall of ambassadors from five Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A few minutes after this publication, the director of QNA said that the agency's website was hacked, and the text of the head of state's speech published on it is a fake. Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued an official refutation. However, Qatar's neighbors found the refutation unconvincing and insisted that the words about the normalization of relations with Iran do belong to the emir.

A few days later, on June 5, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt announced a break in diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing him of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. This was followed by economic sanctions and the transport blockade of the emirate.

Later, four countries passed an ultimatum to Qatar with the mediation of Kuwait, which contained 13 demands, including lowering the level of diplomatic and military relations with Iran, closing the Turkish military base in the country, stopping the financing of terrorist organizations, refusing support of opposition figures in the Arab countries, and Also the closure of the entire satellite television network Al Jazeera.

Negative response of Doha did not suit the Arab "quartet", which decided to continue political and economic pressure on Doha until it changes its policy.