MOSCOW: The Kremlin spokesman says reports that the US military carried out a cyberattack in Russia ahead of the US midterm elections proves that the country needs to create its own, self-controlled segment of the Internet.

Russia’s parliament this month passed the first reading of a bill that proposes all Internet traffic be routed through servers in Russia. Opponents fear the measure would lead to widespread censorship.

Dmitry Peskov was reacting on Wednesday to a recent report in The Washington Post that quoted unnamed US officials as saying that the US military remotely blocked Internet access to a Russian “troll factory” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Several of the troll farm’s employees have been indicted in the US.