The Washington Post publishes an article on cyber-attack carried out by Russia against Georgia.

The article reads that the U.S. joined a chorus of countries on Thursday in blaming Russia for a major cyberattack on the Republic of Georgia, pledging to hold the Kremlin accountable.

The attack knocked thousands of websites offline, including those of the president, local government officials and television channels.

According to article, the U.S. response included statements by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Pentagon and blamed the Oct. 28 attack on the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, commonly known as the GRU. Pompeo’s statement specifically blamed a Russian hacking unit known as Sandworm and for the first time tied it to the GRU.

“This action contradicts Russia’s attempts to claim it is a responsible actor in cyberspace and demonstrates a continuing pattern of reckless Russian GRU cyber operations against a number of countries,” Pompeo said. “These operations aim to sow division, create insecurity, and undermine Democratic institutions.”

Pompeo said the U.S. called on Russia to cease the behavior and pledged to help Georgia in enhancing its cybersecurity to protect against future attacks.

The Pentagon added in a separate statement that the attack is “just one more example of how Russian malign behavior erodes transparency and predictability, undermines the rules-based international order, and violates the sovereignty of its neighbors.”

“The U.S. Government position has been clear, we will defend our partners’ and allies’ core interests and hold the Russian Federation accountable for these destabilizing activities,” said the statement, by Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

The article notes that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon described how they would hold Russia accountable.

Britain said in a separate statement that its national cybersecurity center had assessed “with the highest level of probability” that the attack was carried out by Russia and called it “part of Russia’s long-running campaign of hostile and destabilising activity against Georgia.”

“The GRU’s reckless and brazen campaign of cyber attacks against Georgia, a sovereign and independent nation, is totally unacceptable,” said British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

According to article the Senior Georgian officials expressed thanks for the support.

“Last October, #Georgia suffered a reckless cyber attack affecting state, media & business entities,” said Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia in a tweet. “This was an intolerable act attempting to undermine our sovereignty. We deeply appreciate the vocal support from our partners & allies around the world.”

The pointed statements come as senior U.S. officials express concern about the vulnerability of American elections to hacking.

In December, President Donald Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office and said that he warned Moscow not to interfere in U.S. elections.

Lavrov said later in the day that Pompeo had raised the issue separately with him in another meeting.