Germany summons Russian ambassador over cyberattack

The German government has accused Russia of a massive cyberattack and disinformation campaign during the recent federal election campaign - and has threatened consequences.

The "targeted information manipulation" is part of a series of activities aimed at undermining trust in democratic institutions and processes in Germany, the Foreign Office in Berlin announced on Friday. The Russian ambassador has therefore been summoned to the ministry, a spokesman said.

Specifically, the German government believes two hybrid attacks can be attributed to the Russian military intelligence service GRU.

Air-traffic control IT system affected

A cyberattack on the German air-traffic control service provider DFS in August 2024 can clearly be attributed to the Russian hacker group Fancy Bear, the spokesman explained.

"Our intelligence findings prove that the Russian military intelligence service GRU is responsible for this attack," he said.

The DFS said after the attack, upon request: "Our office communication was hacked, we are currently in defensive measures."

They are trying to minimize the impact, the DFS said, adding that air traffic is not affected and continues to operate normally.

Elaborate disinformation campaign

It can now be definitively stated that with the Storm 1516 campaign, Russia attempted to "influence and destabilize both the last federal election and the internal affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany on an ongoing basis," the Foreign Office spokesman said.

He referred to reliable information from German security authorities that organizations supported by the GRU were behind it.

Defamatory campaigns against Habeck and Merz

The Storm 1516 campaign has been running since 2024. It primarily targets elections in Western countries.

Before the German federal election, the focus was on the Green Party's top candidate Robert Habeck and the ultimately successful candidate to become chancellor from the conservative bloc Friedrich Merz.

To discredit them, false testimonies were produced and posted online, and websites with fabricated content were set up.

Two days before the early election on February 23, 2025, the government announced that German security authorities had indications that fake videos about alleged ballot rigging were part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

The spokesman for the Foreign Office said that Russia's actions specifically threaten Germany's security, "not only through its war of aggression against Ukraine but also here in Germany."

He added that the German government, in coordination with European partners, will "take a series of countermeasures to show Russia a price for its hybrid actions."

Increase in hybrid attacks

The German government has been observing an increase in hybrid threats from Russia for some time.

Hybrid warfare is understood as a combination of military, economic, intelligence, and propaganda tools, which can also influence public opinion, including state-controlled cyberattacks.

The Foreign Office now announced through its spokesman: "We are closely monitoring what Russia is doing and we are taking action against it."

The German government will take a series of countermeasures in close coordination with European partners to "show Russia a price for its hybrid actions."

At the European level, new sanctions targeting individual actors are also supported. These include, for example, entry bans for certain individuals and the freezing of assets. At the same time, he emphasized: "We will continue to strengthen our support for Ukraine and our deterrence and defence."