Germany accuses Russia of 2024 cyberattacks, election disinformation campaign

Germany accused Russia of cyberattacks on air traffic control and trying to interfere with the election, and summoned the Russian ambassador.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Russian military intelligence was behind “a cyber attack on German air traffic control in August 2024.”

The spokesman also accused Russia of trying to influence and undermine the country’s federal election in February.

He said Germany would coordinate closely with its European partners and take countermeasures to make Russia “pay the price for its hybrid actions.”

There was no immediate response from Russia.

The spokesperson said that the cyber attack in August 2024 may have been carried out by the Russian hacker group Fancy Bear.

He added: “Our intelligence findings prove that the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, was responsible for this attack.”

The ministry said it was now certain that Moscow sought to “influence and disrupt the last federal elections as well as the ongoing internal affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany” through a disinformation campaign called “Storm 1516.”

The campaign is said to focus on the main candidate of the Green Party, Robert Habeck, and the current prime minister, the main candidate of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz.

The German government says security agencies discovered fake videos of alleged vote manipulation days before the election as part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

It is said that before Fancy Bear World Anti-Doping Agency data leakand played Played a key role in 2016 cyberattacks Members of the Democratic National Committee, according to security experts.

The latest accusations come amid growing concerns in Europe over alleged Russian cyberattacks since Russia launched a sweeping invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

While it has yet to respond to the latest accusations, Moscow has previously denied European accusations of Russian sabotage or hybrid activity.