Germany has accused Russia of a cyber-attack on air traffic control and attempted electoral interference, and summoned the Russian ambassador.
A foreign ministry spokesman said Russian military intelligence was behind a cyber-attack against German air traffic control in August 2024. The spokesman also accused Russia of seeking to influence and destabilise the country's federal election in February this year.
The latest accusations come amid heightened concern in Europe over suspected Russian cyber-attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia has categorically rejected the claims, saying their alleged involvement in such incidents was absurd.
The accusations of Russian state structures' involvement in these incidents and in the activities of hacker groups in general are baseless, unfounded and absurd, Russia's embassy in Berlin stated to AFP news agency.
The foreign ministry in Germany said that Berlin - in close coordination with its European partners - would respond with counter-measures to make Russia pay a price for its hybrid actions.
In the last year, both the UK and Romania have accused Russia of meddling in their domestic affairs, including targeting organisations supporting Ukraine and presidential elections.
The spokesman stated that the August 2024 cyber-attack on Germany could be attributed to the Fancy Bear Russian hacker group.
Our intelligence findings prove that the Russian military intelligence service GRU bears responsibility for this attack, he added.
The ministry spokesman noted that it was now certain Moscow attempted to influence and destabilise both the last federal election and ongoing internal affairs of Germany via a disinformation campaign known as Storm 1516.
This campaign focused on key political figures like Green Party candidate Robert Habeck and CDU candidate Friedrich Merz, now the chancellor.
German security agencies had identified fake videos alleging ballot manipulation as part of the Russian disinformation effort just days before the election.
Germany's air navigation service provider confirmed that its office communication was hacked in August 2024, but stated that flights had not been affected.
Fancy Bear has previously leaked World Anti-Doping Agency data and was involved in the 2016 cyber-attack on the US Democratic National Committee, according to security experts.
Relations have significantly soured between Berlin and Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Germany emerging as a major supporter of Ukraine through military and financial aid. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for the use of frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine, continually accusing Russia of cyber warfare.
The deteriorating relationship has roots that extend beyond the invasion; for instance, in 2019, a Russian national allegedly acting on behalf of Russia's state security agency committed an assassination in Berlin.
While Moscow has yet to respond to the recent allegations, it has consistently denied accusations of conducting sabotage or hybrid campaigns against European nations.
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