Germany summons Russia's envoy over surge in alleged hybrid attacks, election meddling
Berlin says it "would take a series of countermeasures to make Russia pay a price for its hybrid actions".
Germany has summoned Russia's ambassador over what it alleged was a huge increase in threatening hybrid activities by Moscow including disinformation campaigns, espionage, cyberattacks and attempted sabotage, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said.
"This morning we therefore summoned the Russian ambassador to the foreign office and made it clear that we are monitoring Russia's actions very closely and will take action against them," the spokesperson said on Friday.
Berlin said it had identified two Russian cyber operations, targeting air traffic control and February's general election.
The German foreign ministry spokesperson added: "We can now clearly attribute the cyberattack against German Air Safety in August 2024 to the hacker collective APT28, also known as Fancy Bear.
"Second, we can now state definitively that Russia, through the Storm 1516 campaign, sought to influence and destabilise the most recent federal election."
The Russian embassy in Berlin was not immediately reachable for comment.
The foreign ministry spokesperson told a press conference that Germany "would take a series of countermeasures to make Russia pay a price for its hybrid actions in close coordination with our European partners".
Berlin would support "new individual sanctions against hybrid actors on a European level", the spokesperson said, without providing further details.
Governments across Europe are on high alert over alleged Russian espionage, drone surveillance and sabotage activities, as well as cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns.
Germany has been Ukraine's second-biggest supplier of aid since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and has accused Moscow of "hybrid attacks", including drone flights near various European airports in recent months.