The head of the Russian Security Council says the country recently has seen a marked increase in attempted cyberattacks from overseas.

The comments by Nikolai Patrushev, quoted by Russian news agencies Sunday, come amid tensions over the allegations by United States’ intelligence agencies of a Kremlin-directed effort to interfere in the U.S. presidential elections and bolster support for President-elect Donald Trump using stolen information. .

The alleged cyberattacks included penetrations of the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of Hillary Clinton.

The Russian news agencies quoted Patrushev saying in an interview that is to appear in state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta: “Recently, we have established a significant growth in attempts to inflict damage on the Russian information system from the side of outside powers.”

(AP)