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Microsoft has claimed that North Korean hackers successfully infiltrated a Russian aerospace research institute and targeted Russian diplomats earlier in March this year.

In a blog post published on Thursday, Microsoft suggested a potential reason behind the cyberattack: “North Korean threat actors may be capitalizing on the opportunity to conduct intelligence collection on Russian entities due to the country’s focus on its war in Ukraine.” When reached for comments, neither the North Korean mission to the United Nations nor the Russian embassy in Washington provided an immediate response.

Espionage activities targeting rival nations’ military and diplomatic sectors are a common strategy among world intelligence agencies’ hacking units. Historically, North Korea has been accused of orchestrating cyberattacks against defense and diplomatic targets in countries such as South Korea and the United States.

This report from Microsoft comes on the heels of last month’s revelation by Reuters and cybersecurity firm SentinelOne Inc, which detailed how North Korean operatives breached a significant Russian missile developer for an extended period in the previous year. This breach could have positioned North Korea to gain valuable insights into Russia’s hypersonic missile technologies.

Microsoft’s report not only discussed the activities of North Korean hackers but also highlighted China’s alleged intensified propaganda operations using artificial intelligence.