Germany accused Russia of a cyberattack on air traffic control and attempted election interference and summoned the Russian ambassador.
A Foreign Office spokesperson claimed that Russian military intelligence was behind a “cyber attack against German air traffic control in August 2024.” The spokesperson also accused Russia of trying to influence and destabilize the country’s federal elections in February of this year.
The latest accusations come amid heightened concern in Europe over alleged Russian cyberattacks since Moscow launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia has “categorically rejected” the claims, saying its alleged involvement in such incidents was “absurd.”
“Allegations of involvement of Russian state structures in these incidents and in the activities of hacker groups in general are groundless, unfounded and absurd,” the Russian embassy in Berlin said in a statement to the AFP news agency.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said Berlin – in close coordination with its European partners – would respond with countermeasures to make Russia “pay a price for its hybrid actions.”
In the past year, both the United Kingdom and Romania have accused Russia of meddling in their internal affairs, including attacks on organizations providing foreign assistance to Ukraine and the presidential election.
The spokesperson said the August 2024 cyberattack against Germany could be attributed to the Russian hacking group Fancy Bear.
“Our intelligence findings demonstrate that the Russian military intelligence service GRU is responsible for this attack,” he added.
The ministry spokesperson added that it was now certain that Moscow had attempted to “influence and destabilize both the recent federal elections and the ongoing internal affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany” through a disinformation campaign called Storm 1516.
The campaign, he said, had partly focused on the Green Party’s leading candidate, Robert Habeck, and the CDU’s leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, who is now chancellor.
The German government said security agencies had identified fake videos alleging vote manipulation as part of a Russian disinformation effort just days before the election.
Its air navigation service provider confirmed that its office communications had been hacked in August 2024. It said flights had not been affected.
Fancy Bear is said to have previously leaked World Anti-Doping Agency data and played a key role in the 2016 cyberattack on the US Democratic National Committee, according to security experts.
The large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused a significant deterioration in relations between Berlin and Moscow.
Germany has become one of Ukraine’s most vocal supporters, providing military, financial and diplomatic support to kyiv.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has strongly called for frozen Russian assets to be used to help protect Ukraine.
He has also repeatedly accused Russia of waging cyberwar against his country.
But relations have been strained for years, even before the Russian invasion.
In 2019, a Russian national, Vadim Krasikov, killed an ethnic Chechen in broad daylight in Berlin’s Tiergarten park. Germany later expelled two Russian diplomats, as prosecutors suspected they were acting on orders from Russia’s state security agency.
While yet to respond to the latest accusations, Moscow has previously denied European accusations of Russian sabotage or a hybrid campaign.
