In a series of coordinated announcements, authorities in the US, UK, the Netherlands and Australia have accused the Russian military intelligence agency GRU of a huge array of cyberattacks around the world.

The stunning revelations included details about Russian alleged attempts to target everything from the global chemical weapons watchdog to anti-doping agencies, and a probe into the downed Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.

Russia rejected the allegations on Thursday, calling it a “diabolical cocktail” of someone with a “rich imagination”.

Here’s an oversight of what Russia is being accused of:

2014: MH17 plane crash investigation

British authorities allege that a GRU operation conducted “malign activity” when it tried to collect information about the investigation into the 2014 downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine by targeting Malaysian government institutions, including the Attorney General’s office and Malaysian police.

Dutch officials added that GRU agents had logged into Wi-Fi networks near a Malaysian hotel where investigators had gathered.

Most of the 298 people killed onboard MH17 were Dutch citizens, and investigators say they have strong evidence the Buk missile that downed the plane came from Russia, a charge Russia denies. 

Dutch Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld said: “We have been aware of the interest of Russian intelligence services in this investigation and have taken appropriate measures.”

2016: US elections and Olympics

According to US investigators, agents from the GRU’s Unit 26165 broke into the Democratic National Committee’s emails, wreaking havoc during the 2016 US presidential election.

Authorities also accuse the GRU of sustained efforts to breach the computer systems of global and national anti-doping agencies and sporting governing bodies including the International Olympic Committee and football’s FIFA.

Russian agents allegedly hacked into the website of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in world sports, during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The court had been looking at doping cases involving Russian athletes.

In September 2016, medical data of 250 athletes was released following a hack. Evidence suggests that in the same month, GRU agents also logged into Wi-Fi networks near a Lausanne, Switzerland, hotel where a World Anti-Doping Agency conference was held.

One official from the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport had their laptop compromised by malware.

According to a US indictment on Thursday, the GRU targeted the hacking victims because they had publicly supported a ban on Russian athletes in international sports competitions and because they had condemned Russia’s state-sponsored athlete doping programme.

2017: Ukraine infrastructure

The GRU is accused of a catastrophic attack in June 2017 on Ukraine using malicious software that briefly knocked out cash machines, gas stations, pharmacies and hospitals.

According to a secret White House assessment recently cited by Wired, the attack caused $10bn worth of damage worldwide.

2018: Skripal poisoning, hacking attempt at OPCW

British authorities say that in March, immediately after the nerve agent attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, the GRU tried to hack into Foreign Office computer systems via a phishing attack.

In April, four GRU operatives allegedly flew from Moscow to the Netherlands and attempted to hack into and infect the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ Wi-Fi network in what’s known as a close access hack operation.

Dutch authorities showed photos including one of a gray rented Citroen with its trunk full of hacking equipment.

The men were caught and expelled from the Netherlands.

In May, GRU hackers allegedly sent phishing emails impersonating Swiss federal authorities to target OPCW employees directly.

The chemical weapons watchdog had confirmed that Skripal was poisoned by the Soviet-produced nerve agent known as Novichok.

Britain says the attack was carried out by GRU officers and almost certainly approved “at a senior level of the Russian state”.

Russian reaction

Moscow on Thursday rejected the accusations, saying they were unworthy and part of a disinformation campaign designed to damage Russian interests.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a news briefing that the accusations were the product of someone with a “rich imagination”.

“It’s some kind of a diabolical perfume cocktail [of allegations],” TASS news agency quoted Zakharova as telling reporters.

“The vivid imagination of our colleagues from the UK has no boundaries indeed […] it’s undignified for the country, which pretends to play one of the leading roles in the world,” she said.

AP

A group of Palestinian schoolchildren in the occupied West Bank has travelled to the Israeli president’s residence to protest against the imminent demolition of their village.

Khan al-Ahmar, which has captured international attention for its years-long legal battle with Israeli authorities over its survival, is set be demolished after an Israeli court gave the community’s residents up until October 1 to remove their rudimentary shacks and structures.

At least 18 children from the Bedouin village, all aged 12 or younger, were accompanied by Jewish-American activists and travelled in three Israeli-licensed cars to President Reuven Rivlin’s residence in Jerusalem.

They passed the al-Zaeem checkpoint, which separates an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank from a neighbourhood that lies in occupied East Jerusalem, without incident.

However, they were prevented by Israeli police from further approaching Rivlin’s residence upon arriving to the area in West Jerusalem.

‘We will remain’

Their sit-in on Thursday coincided with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Rivlin’s home, where she had lunch with the president. Her official visit to Israel comes after a delay of a year and half due to disagreements regarding Israel’s settlement policies.

On Tuesday, the children of Khan al-Ahmar held a news conference appealing to Merkel to help stop the planned eviction.

“I spent my entire life in Khan al-Ahmar,” 12-year-old Sujood Muhammad Jahalin told Al Jazeera.

“If I leave, my heart will remain attached to it, and I will not be happy anywhere else. My heart loves this place,” she said.

Along with the Jewish-American activists, the children were ordered to remain in an area about 100 metres away from the residence.

They raised signs that read “Save Our School” referring to the only school in their area, which is built from mud and tyres. 

“We’re not going listen to the Israelis. We will rebuild [our homes], and if they demolish the school, we will still remain,” Sujood said.

Khan al-Ahmar is situated a few kilometres from Jerusalem in Area C, which under the Oslo Accords is under Israeli civil and security administration and takes up 60 percent of the West Bank.

Back in May, the Israeli High Court ruled that the village and its only school would be demolished, stating that the village was built without Israeli permission.

However, Palestinians say building permits are impossible to obtain, in contrast to the rapid expansion of illegal Jewish-only Israeli settlements in the same area.

Its location between two major illegal Israeli settlements, Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim, has been a thorn in the side of the Israeli government, which wants to expand the settlements in order to build a ring of settlements around occupied East Jerusalem.

The removal of the Bedouin village would also enable the Israeli government to effectively bisect the West Bank in two.

Furthermore, demolishing of the village would result in the forced displacement of its 180 residents, all belonging to the Bedouin Jahalin tribe.

“If they [the Israeli army] come, they will make us leave and we will have no home and no land,” Wafa Naser Ahmad Jahalin, a sixth-grader at the Khan al-Ahmar school, told Al Jazeera.

“We came here today to tell her [Merkel] not to demolish Khan al-Ahmar … If they demolish, we will build again and will remain steadfast on our land,” she said.

Appeals for Merkel to pressure Israel

In early July, Israeli bulldozers destroyed a number of tents and other structures in Khan al-Ahmar, sparking confrontations with local residents.

Husam Yousef Abu Dahouk, a sixth-grader, told Al Jazeera that he came to Rivlin’s residence to deliver a message to Merkel and the Israelis.

“We want to deliver a message to the Israelis to stop the decision to demolish Khan al-Ahmar,” he said.

“We ask Merkel to come and help us in our village,” Husam added.

Husam’s father Yousef told Al Jazeera that the children are suffering from psychological strains regarding the uncertainty of their future.

“Every time we hear the sound of a car approaching or a helicopter in the sky we get worried, thinking it is the army coming,” he said. “It’s such a difficult feeling, and the children and women are not sleeping.”

“These kids wanted to send a message to Merkel and to the European Union, which supports our village,” the 37-year-old continued. “I hope that Merkel looks at these children and sees them as other kids in the world, and puts pressure on the occupation to go back on its decision.”

Forced transfer violates international law

The Israeli government plans to relocate the residents of the village either to an area near a sewage treatment facility near the Dead Sea, or about 12km away from their homes, near the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, next to a landfill.

Rights advocates say a forcible transfer of the residents would violate international law regarding occupied territory. Furthermore, there are fears that relocating them in an urban centre will have a devastating effect on the Bedouins’ lives, who have their own distinct lifestyle with gender defined public and private domains.

Activist Angela Godfrey, one of the activists who accompanied the schoolchildren, said: “She [Merkel] can save the school, it doesn’t have to be demolished.”

“People should not be given a choice [living near] either the garbage or the sewage,” she added.

Additional reporting by Ibrahim Husseini

Turkey‘s foreign ministry summoned Saudi Arabia‘s ambassador to Ankara over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two days ago.

Turkish diplomatic sources as well as Anadolu news agency on Thursday said the Saudi ambassador was received by Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran on Wednesday “for consultations” over the critic’s disappearance.

A Saudi Press Agency statement said while the consulate did not challenge that Khashoggi disappeared during a visit to the diplomatic post, it was working with Turkish authorities to find the dissident writer. 

“The consulate confirmed that it is carrying out follow-up procedures and coordination with the Turkish local authorities to uncover the circumstances of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after he left the consulate building,” it said without elaborating.

The statement followed a spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan telling reporters on Wednesday night that he believed the journalist was still inside the consulate.

“According to the information we have, this person, who is a Saudi citizen, is still at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul,” Ibrahim Kalin said. “We don’t have information to the contrary.”

Mysterious disappearance

Thursday’s developments add to the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Khashoggi, who had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since hed he fled the kingdom in September 2017. 

The 59-year-old was critical of the Saudi government’s reform programme under the stewardship of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“I have left my home, my family and my job, and I am raising my voice,” he wrote in September 2017. “To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot.”

Khashoggi’s disappearance threatens to further deteriorate relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which are on the opposite sides in the four-nation boycott of Qatar and other regional crises.

On Tuesday, Khashoggi entered the consulate to get paperwork he needed in order to be married next week, said his fiancée Hatice, who gave only her first name for fear of retribution.

He gave her his mobile phones for safekeeping, a common occurrence as many embassies routinely require that phones be left outside as a security precaution.

Hours later, Khashoggi hadn’t emerged and Hatice recounted how she called his friends in a panic.

“He is not a suspect … He is just a man whose country doesn’t like his writings or his opinions,” she told The Associated Press news agency.

Long-time critic

Khashoggi regularly wrote for the Washington Post, criticising Saudi policies towards Qatar and Canada, the war in Yemen, and a crackdown on dissent and the media in the kingdom.

The Washington Post said it was “extremely concerned” about him.

“We have reached out to anyone we think might be able to help locate him and assure his safety, including US, Turkish and Saudi officials,” the Post’s Fred Hiatt said in a statement.

Ali Shihabi, head of the Arabia Foundation in Washington, which backs the Saudi regime, posted on Twitter: “Jamal and I have not seen eye to eye on many issues but having him go missing like this is awful.” 

Khashoggi was known for his interviews and travels with Osama bin Laden between 1987 and 1995, including in Afghanistan, where he wrote about the battle against the Soviet occupation.

In the early 1990s, he tried to persuade bin Laden to reconcile with the Saudi royal family and return home from his base in Sudan, but the al-Qaeda leader refused.

Senate Democrats were already voicing concern Thursday morning about what they called the limited scope of the FBI’s investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The FBI’s report following its weeklong look at sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez was delivered early Thursday to Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are reviewing its findings. President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that the allegations against Kavanaugh, which he has denied, are “totally uncorroborated.”

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Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on MSNBC Thursday that while he had not seen the report yet, he was “very concerned by reports that the scope was narrowed and that only a few, fewer than 10, individuals were interviewed.”

Coons added that “an obvious component of a credible investigation would have been the witnesses that Dr. Ford offered” to support her claim that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a house party when they were both in high school. He said the investigation also should have included former Yale classmates of Kavanaugh who have said publicly that they tried to reach the FBI with stories about his behavior.

Lawmakers requested the FBI investigation after a hearing last week with both Ford and Kavanaugh. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and other senators said they wanted to hear from people who were not part of that hearing. But Democrats have since questioned why Ford and Kavanaugh, among others, weren’t interviewed by the FBI as part of the follow-up investigation.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who is also on the Judiciary Committee, told CNN Thursday morning that it was “unacceptable there were only a handful of witnesses interviewed.”

White House spokesperson Raj Shah defended the investigation, noting that the Senate provided an initial list of people they wanted interviewed, and he said a total of 10 people were contacted as part of the probe.

He said the FBI fulfilled the requirements of a background investigation, noting that the process is different than a criminal probe, which has not been undertaken.

“It doesn’t seek to find a specific outcome,” he told CNN. “It seeks to find information for decision makers. The Senate has set a scope on what they are interested in.”

The US Justice Department is charging seven Russian military intelligence officials over the alleged hacking of doping agencies and other organisations.

The officers were indicted for conspiring to hack computers and steal data in a bid to delegitimise international anti-doping organisations and expose officials who revealed a Russian state-sponsored athlete doping programme.

The charges of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse and to commit wire fraud and money laundering came hours after Dutch authorities said they had disrupted an attempt by Russian intelligence agents to hack into the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in April.

In a news conference in The Hague, Dutch Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld called on Russia to cease its cyber activities that aim at “undermining” Western democracies.

“The Dutch government finds the involvement of these intelligence operatives extremely worrisome,” Bijleveld said.

“Normally we don’t reveal this type of counter-intelligence operation.”

The revalations come as the United Kingdom accused Kremlin spies of directing a host of cyber attacks aimed at undermining Western democracies by sowing confusion in everything from sports to transport and the 2016 US presidential election.

Britain’s Defence Minister Gavin Williamson said Moscow’s “reckless and indiscriminate” attacks left it isolated in the international community.

“This is not the actions of a great power, this is the actions of a pariah state and we’ll continue working with allies to isolate, make them understand they cannot continue to conduct themselves in such a way,” Williamson told reporters in Brussels.

Russia on Thursday rejected British accusations its spies were behind global cyber attacks, saying the allegations were unworthy and part of a disinformation campaign designed to damage Russian interests, the TASS news agency reported.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a news briefing that the accusations were the product of someone with a “rich imagination”.

“It’s some kind of a diabolical perfume cocktail [of allegations],” TASS quoted Zakharova as telling reporters.

“The vivid imagination of our colleagues from the UK has no boundaries indeed […] it’s undignified for the country, which pretends to play one of the leading roles in the world,” she said.

Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan, speaking from London, said Thursday’s reaction is notable.

“Most, if not all, advanced intelligence agencies engage in hacking,” he said. “But it seems today that what we’re seeing is a coordinated campaign against Russia specifically because the activities that Russia has been engaging in go far beyond what in normal intelligence circles would be regarded as acceptable”.