Germany Recalls Envoy From Russia

Germany has recalled its ambassador to Russia, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, after Belin accused Moscow of carrying out cyberattacks. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Lambsdorff had “been called back for consultations and will stay in Berlin for a week and then return to Moscow.”

He added that the decision had come from Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Moscow has been accused of carrying out cyber attacks on Europe in the past and a German investigation found the latest attack had been carried out by a group — linked to Moscow’s GRU military intelligence agency — known as APT28. The group, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks around the world.

It is believed to have launched the attacks against German targets, which also included defence and aerospace firms, about two years ago. Targets of the campaign included members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats party.

Russia’s embassy in Berlin dismissed the accusations calling them “another unfriendly step aimed at inciting anti-Russian sentiments in Germany.”

Germany is not the only European country that has accused Moscow of cyber attacks. The Czech Republic announced on Monday that it had summoned the Russian ambassador over alleged cyberattacks on its institutions and critical infrastructure.

“We have called on the Russian Federation to refrain from this behaviour, which is contrary to United Nations standards and its own obligations,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on X, formerly Twitter.

Other countries that have complained about Russian activity include Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden.

The accusations come at a time of heightened anxiety in Europe over suspected Russian hackers and spies since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and in the run-up to European elections.

It is not just European countries that have complained about Russian cyberattacks it is the US too. Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of interfering in the 2016 elections through its cyber capabilities something which Moscow has repeatedly denied.

U.S. intelligence agencies have blamed Fancy Bear for hacking the email accounts of Hillary Clinton’s staff before the 2016 election. The World Anti-Doping Agency also accused Russian hackers in 2016 of stealing confidential medical information about U.S. Olympic athletes and publishing it online. The FBI later seized the domain of the site – www.fancybear.net – where the information was released.

(With inputs from Reuters & other agencies)