BERLIN (AP) – Germany has protested against Russia for attempts to steal data from lawmakers on what it suspects was preparing to spread misinformation ahead of the upcoming German elections, the Berlin Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Andrea Sasse said a hacker suit called Ghostwriter has been “combining conventional cyberattacks with disinformation and influence operations” and that activities aimed at Germany have been observed “for some time. time “.
He said that before the German parliamentary elections on September 26, there had been attempts – using fishing emails, among other things – to get the personal login details of federal and state lawmakers, with the identity theft target.
“These attacks could serve as preparations for influence operations, such as disinformation campaigns related to parliamentary elections,” he told reporters in Berlin.
“The German government has reliable information on the basis of which Ghostwriter’s activities can be attributed to cyber-actors in the Russian state and, specifically, to Russia’s GRU military intelligence service,” he said. Sasse. “He sees this unacceptable activity as a danger to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany and to the democratic decision-making process, and as severe pressure on bilateral relations.”
He said that Germany was asking the Russian government to put an end to this activity immediately and that it had made this demand directly to Russian officials, most recently during a meeting on Thursday and Friday of a German-Russian working group on security policy, in the which German Deputy Foreign Minister Miguel Berger raised the issue with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister.
Sasse did not want to comment on the extent of the cyberattacks or the possible damage, saying only that “they are, of course, completely unacceptable and that the German government reserves the right to take further action.”
In mid-July, the head of the German national intelligence agency said that since February his agency had seen activities focused on attempted fishing of private email accounts of federal and state lawmakers and their staff. . But he said very few of these attempts were successful and, in cases where they were successful, it appeared that little damage had been done.
Germany’s concerns about Russian interference have spread to the activities of the state-funded RT station, the only German-language online service for years that has emphasized divisive issues such as migration and restrictions. imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chancellor Angela Merkel recently denied during a visit to Moscow that her government had exerted political pressure to block the station’s request for a regular broadcasting license, which was rejected last month by neighboring authorities. Luxembourg..
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Monday accused Germany of trying to suppress the channel, alleging that it “says what the German media does not dare to say.”
In the September 26 vote, Germany will elect a new parliament that will determine who will succeed Merkel. He is not looking for another term after almost 16 years in office. The result is open, with polls showing the major parties pretty much together.
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Daria Litvinova in Moscow and Frank Jordans in Berlin and contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the German election at https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election