Germany: Berlin protests to Russia over allegations of pre-election cyberattacks

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Germany strongly urged Russian officials to immediately cease cyberattacks connected with the upcoming Bundestag election, said Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Andrea Sasse during a press conference in Berlin on Monday.

In July, Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency BfV said his agency had seen activity focusing on phishing attempts on the private email accounts of federal and state lawmakers and their staff. Haldenwang confirmed that very few attempts were successful.

Germany will elect a new parliament on September 26. The new parliament will determine who succeeds Angela Merkel after 16 years as Chancellor.

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SOT, Andrea Sasse, Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson (German): “We took, we have of course acknowledged the judgments against Miss Kolesnikova and Mr Znak. They are for us a symbol of the ruthless action, the repression and intimidation of the Belarusian regime against opposition politicians and civil society. As two of the bravest heads of the peaceful protest movements after the fake presidential elections, Miss Kolesnikova and Mr Znak have campaigned for freedom, democracy and human rights in Belarus.”

SOT, Andrea Sasse, Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson (German): “The federal government condemns the unjustified sentences of Maria Kolesnikowa and Maxim Znak and the instrumentalisation of the judiciary for political persecution in Belarus​. Germany assures unlimited solidarity​ to Maria Kolesnikowa and Maxim Znak and everyone else imprisoned in Belarus for political reasons. The federal government demand the release of all political prisoners in Belarus. We will of course continue keeping up the political pressure on the regime​ and continue our active support for Belarusian society​.”

SOT, Andrea Sasse, Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson (German): “The federal government took note of the accusation against local staff at the German embassy in Moscow with great astonishment​. The official bodies in Russia creating here the accusation of an indirect financing by Germany construct is absurd to say the least​. A list with supposedly supporters of Alexey Navalny. This represents a dissemination of protective value information and thus, from our point of view, a violation of personal rights.​”

SOT, Andrea Sasse, Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson (German): “We clearly condemn this action and demand the observance of our employees private protection. In addition, we demand once again the immediate release of Alexey Navalny, whose condemnation of a prison sentence is based on a ruling which the European court of justice for human rights has declared that to be arbitrary, overt and disproportionate​. In that sense, his imprisonment is unlawful and a violation of Russia against its international legal obligation from the European Human Rights Convention. We see with great concern that the pressure against dissidents is increasing in the run-up of the Duma elections.”

SOT, Andrea Sasse, Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson (German): “The federal government has reliable information​ on the basis of which the ghost writers activities can be assigned to the cyber actors of the Russian office and specifically to the Russian military intelligence service GRU​. The federal government considers this actions as a danger for the Federal Government of Germany and for the democratic decision-making process​ and as a heavy burden for the bilateral relationship​. the federal government strongly urges the Russian government to immediately cease this illegal cyber activities. We expressed this demand directly to Russian officials, last during the meeting of the German-Russian high working group on security policy, which happened last week on September 2 and 3.”

SOT, Andrea Sasse, Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson (German): “Since several years the cyber actor ‘Ghost Writer’ combines conventional cyber attacks with disinformation and influence operations​. Since some time we have been also observing a focus of these activities towards Germany. In the run-up of the Bundestag elections in Germany, by means of fishing emails there was an attempt to achieve login data, especially from members of the Bundestag and of the state parliament and thereby to be able to commit identity theft​. These attacks can be serve as a preparation act for influence operations, as for example disinformation campaigns in connection to the Bundestag election.”

#Germany #Berlin #Cyberattacks

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