Germany accuses Putin of interference and cyberattacks and summons the Russian ambassador
The German government is standing up against Russian hybrid attacks, which were especially evident during the country's recent elections.
BerlinA new episode in Russia's increasingly palpable hybrid war against Europe. This Friday, Germany accused Moscow of being behind several attacks against Berlin, in the form of cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, especially during the recent general elections.which resulted in the victory of Chancellor Merz. After making the accusations public, the German government summoned the Russian ambassador to Germany, Sergei Netschajew, to the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Berlin to formally protest these acts.
"We have long observed a massive increase in threatening hybrid activities by Russia. These range from disinformation campaigns to espionage and cyberattacks, as well as sabotage attempts," Martin Giese, spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, explained to the press. "Based on a thorough analysis by German intelligence services, we have been able to clearly identify the perpetrators and demonstrate Moscow's responsibility," the spokesman added. Berlin attributes these acts to the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.
The German protest to Vladimir Putin's ambassador comes against a backdrop of growing tension between Berlin and Moscow over Germany's firm support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. It also comes amid a climate of threat in Europe. Hours earlier, on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, from the Netherlands, warned the European population that "Putin's next target is us."
The Russian ambassador's summons, in fact, comes days before German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is scheduled to receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin on Monday to discuss the state of the peace negotiations in Ukraine. In the afternoon, numerous European heads of state and government, as well as top officials from the European Union and NATO, will join the talks. The meeting with Zelensky will take place on the eve of the European Council meeting on December 18 and 19, the last of the year.
Hybrid warfare to destabilize
Germany has already stated that it is taking measures to counter the Kremlin's attacks "in close coordination with our European partners," so that Russia "pays a price for its hybrid actions," explained spokesman Giese. According to Berlin, the objective of these hybrid attacks by Moscow is to divide society, foster distrust, provoke rejection, and weaken confidence in democratic institutions. "Russia poses a very concrete threat to our security, not only with its war of aggression against Ukraine, but also here in Germany," Berlin declared.
The German government attributes the attacks to the Russian hacker collective APT28, also known as Fancy BearBerlin has accused Russia of carrying out a cyberattack against German air traffic control in August 2024. "Information from our intelligence services shows that the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, is responsible for this attack," Berlin stated. Last August, hackers attacked the German Federal Air Traffic Control (DFS). The intrusion was quickly detected and repelled. Air traffic was unaffected and continued as normal, according to German authorities at the time. Now, Berlin's accusation comes in a European context marked by the presence of drones and other hybrid warfare devices. which have also affected air traffic in several European Union countries. Furthermore, the Kremlin has also repeatedly violated the airspace of EU countries that share a border with Russia or Ukraine, such as Poland and Romania.
Support for the far-right AfD
Meanwhile, Berlin also has evidence of electoral interference in the general elections last February. Germany denounced Russia for attempting to "influence and destabilize both the recent Bundestag elections and, on an ongoing basis, the internal affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany" through the pro-Russian "Storm 1516" campaign. The German government points to the Moscow-based think tank Center for Geopolitical Expertise and the Double-Headed Eagle Movement as being behind this disinformation campaign, "with the support of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU." Storm 1516 is the name of a disinformation network originating in Russia, operational since 2024, with the primary objective of influencing Western elections. Two days before the federal elections on February 23, the German government reported the appearance on social media of fake videos purporting to demonstrate irregularities in postal voting. The videos falsely accused German authorities of manipulating the parliamentary elections to harm the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which was second in the polls and enjoyed the Kremlin's support. One of the videos allegedly showed an official opening envelopes and shredding ballots marked for the AfD, "in a perfidious attempt to delegitimize our free and democratic elections," as German electoral authorities denounced at the time. The colors, lettering, and other external characteristics of the envelopes and ballots shown in the video did not match the official ones, which allowed for the manipulation to be quickly detected. Before the elections, smear campaigns were also detected against the Green Party candidate, Robert Habeck, and against the then-conservative candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz. German security authorities also suspected that this was a pro-Russian campaign.
