Western media outlets neglect to cover US cyber attacks on other nations while blowing allegations of foreign hacking out of proportion, former US diplomat Jim Jatras told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) � Earlier on�Tuesday, US media reports claimed that Russian intelligence had penetrated the computer systems of�the Democratic National Committee in�an effort to�discover what the Democrats had researched on�Republican presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump.

�In searching media about�cyber warfare, it�s interesting how much is written about�attacks on�the United States by�Russia, China, Iran, and other countries and how little about�US cyberattacks on�other countries,� he said. �Perhaps our media are not interested in�it, or are not inclined to�whine about�it publicly.�

Western, especially US, media exercise a double standard by�publishing inflated and exaggerated accounts of�alleged espionage activities by�other countries against�the United States while ignoring the enormous scale of�US operations, Jatras observed.

While there was no hard evidence beyond�the claims of�the most recent attacks, Jatras recalled that the US government had and continued to�carry out�extensive surveillance operations, not just against�Russia and China, but�against its closest allies.

�The fact is that even friendly countries spy on�each other, and the United States and Russia are not on�particularly friendly terms now and conditions will almost certainly become worse if Hillary Clinton is elected,� Jatras pointed out. �Certainly Moscow would regard warmonger Hillary and her party as�adversaries.�

Moscow has completely ruled out�any possibility that the Russian government or government bodies were involved in�the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters on�Tuesday.

In recent years, reports surfaced that found the US National Security Agency (NSA) eavesdropped on�European allies. According to�WikiLeaks, the NSA had bugged meetings between�UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, between�Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Berlusconi, as�well as�talks of�key EU and Japanese trade ministers, among�others.

By Sputnik News