The FSB accuses the NSA of hacking into thousands of Apple phones to spy on them.

Russia accuses US government agencies of hacking thousands of iPhones.

In a statement issued on June 1st, the FSB said that several thousand Apple phones had been infected with malware, including phones of domestic Russian subscribers. Phones of foreign diplomats in Russia and the former Soviet Union, including diplomats from NATO member states, Israel, Syria, and China, were also attacked, according to the FSB.

"The FSB has detected an intelligence operation by U.S. special services using Apple mobile devices," Reuters quoted the FSB as saying. The Russian security agency accused this development of demonstrating a close relationship between Apple and the NSA, the U.S. agency responsible for intelligence and cryptographic security and communications.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on the same day that the covert data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in US-made mobile phones.

"US intelligence agencies have used IT corporations for decades to collect large-scale data on internet users without their knowledge," the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

Neither Apple nor the NSA immediately commented on the allegations.

In a related development, shortly after the FSB's statement, Russian security company Kaspersky announced on the same day that the iPhones of some of its employees had been attacked with malware. The number of affected phones is currently unknown.

Russian officials have long questioned the security of American technology products. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently stated that he does not own a smartphone, although the Kremlin says the former spy occasionally uses the internet.

Earlier this year, the Kremlin instructed officials involved in preparations for the 2024 Russian presidential election to stop using Apple iPhones, fearing that the devices were vulnerable to hacking by Western intelligence agencies, Kommersant reported.

At a Kremlin-organized workshop for domestic officials, Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy chief of staff of the Russian presidential office, requested that officials replace their phones by April 1, according to Kommersant .

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