The German government has accused Russia of carrying out repeated hostile actions against Germany, including acts of sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.A spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said Friday that the Russian ambassador has been summoned to Berlin over allegations of repeated hybrid attacks on Germany
The move followed what officials described as mounting evidence of coordinated Russian activity aimed at undermining Germany’s internal stability .
Germany summons Russian ambassador over ‘hybrid’ attacks
The German government has accused Russia of carrying out repeated hostile actions against Germany, including acts of sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.
Russian flag displayed on a laptop screen and binary code code displayed on a screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo
The spokesperson said Russia was posing a very concrete threat to German securit.
A spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said Friday that the Russian ambassador has been summoned to Berlin over allegations of repeated hybrid attacks on Germany.
The move followed what officials described as mounting evidence of coordinated Russian activity aimed at undermining Germany’s internal stability.
How is Russia targeting Germany with disinformation?
The spokesperson said there were also indications of Russian attempts to influence elections. “Russia is thereby posing a very concrete threat to our security,” the Foreign Office said.
In one instance, the spokesperson said, a cyberattack against Germany’s air traffic control authority in August 2024 can be clearly attributed to the Russian hacker group “Fancy Bear.”
“Our intelligence findings show that the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, bears responsibility for this attack,” the spokesperson added, adding that this was now certain.
In another case, Berlin claimed it was now certain that Russia attempted, through the propagandist group “Storm 1516,” which creates and spreads online disinformation to further the interests of the Russian government.
The group, active since 2024, seeks primarily to influence elections in Western countries.
In Germany’s case, the spokesman said, the aim was to “influence both the most recent federal election and, on an ongoing basis, the internal affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, and to destabilize them.”
In Germany, the campagin had focused in part on then–Green Party chancellor candidate Robert Habeck and conservative Christian Democrat candidate Friedrich Merz.
Two days before the early federal election in February, the government said security agencies had identified fake videos alleging ballot manipulation as part of a Russian disinformation effort.
