Dutch authorities expelled two suspected Russian spies who tried to hack into a Swiss laboratory that conducts tests for the UN-backed chemical weapons watchdog, Switzerland's intelligence agency says.
The Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) says it worked "actively" with British and Dutch partners on the case involving the Spiez Laboratory, which led to the arrests of two Russians.
The lab provides arms control and other services.
The FIS confirmation came after newspapers reported that two Russians suspected of being agents of military intelligence service GRU were kicked out of the Netherlands earlier this year as a result of a Europe-wide investigation.
Russia's foreign minister said earlier this year that the lab analysed samples linked to the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England.
"The Swiss authorities are aware of the case of Russian spies discovered in The Hague and expelled from the same place," said FIS spokeswoman Isabelle Graber.
"The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service participated actively in this operation together with its Dutch and British partners."
Andreas Bucher, a spokesman for the laboratory, declined to comment on the expulsions but said there has been indications that "we have been in the crosshairs of hackers in the last few months".
He said the lab had taken precautions, and no data was lost.
The Russian state news agency Tass quoted Stanislav Smirnov, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Switzerland, as calling the Dutch news report "absurd".
"We believe that this is a new anti-Russian bogus story made up by the Western media," he said.
"We have seen this article and it gives rise to a lot of questions ... It is absurd, just new groundless allegations."
Australian Associated Press
