Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven will discuss a recent wave of cyber attacks suspected to have come from pro-Russian groups when they meet in Paris on Monday and Tuesday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Sunday. The issue was added to the agenda at Italy's request, and the talks are expected to cover possible joint action to counter the attacks. Reuters reported the announcement from Rome.

Tajani said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had accepted his proposal to place the subject on the agenda for the two-day meeting. He pointed to what he described as hybrid warfare incidents across Europe and in South America in recent days, and said the G7 countries would consider joint initiatives in response.

The Italian minister spoke a day after saying his own personal data had been published on the dark web by hackers he described as pro-Russian. He linked that incident to the Italian government's support for Ukraine. Tajani also said Italy had repelled a large number of attacks, including one against his ministry's building on the day Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first arrived in Italy.

Tajani was careful not to blame the Russian government directly for the attacks. He said the hackers were pro-Russian but that he did not have proof of Russian government involvement, adding that he would say so if he had it. The Paris meeting will therefore test whether the seven countries can agree on a shared response while the evidence about who is behind the incidents remains incomplete.