ROUGH CUT.

NO REPORTER NARRATION.

Dutch authorities disrupted an attempt in April by Russian intelligence agents to hack the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld said on Thursday (October 4).

At a news conference in The Hague, Bijleveld said four Russians in the Netherlands were detained in April and expelled to Russia before they could carry out the attack.

Dutch Major General Onno Eichelsheim said the four men tried to enter the chemical watchdog's computer system through its wifi system.

At the time, the OPCW was working to verify the identity of the substance used in the March attack in Salisbury, Britain, on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

It was also seeking to verify the identity of a substance used in an attack in Douma, Syria.