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Poland has accused Russia of a hacking attack that blocked users' access to the online system for filing tax returns, Reuters reports.

The situation further strained already strained relations between Warsaw and Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Western officials say the Russian government is a world leader in hacking and uses cyberespionage against foreign governments.

For its part, Moscow has repeatedly denied conducting hacking operations.

Janusz Czeszczynski, a Polish official in charge of digitization, said his country had information that made it highly likely that Russia was responsible for yesterday's cyber attack.

The Russian embassy in Warsaw reported that it was already used to the fact that "in the West you accuse Russia of everything without evidence. This is another such case in the well-known style of 'very likely'."

The number of Russian cyberattacks in NATO countries jumped sharply after Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Cheshinski clarified that it is about the so-called

DDoS (Denial of Service) attack, but no taxpayer data was leaked.

"This is an attack that blocks access to the site, but does not block security and does not put our data at risk," he assured.

Russian hackers