Berlin’s recall of the envoy exacerbated diplomatic tensions on the eve of Putin’s inauguration.
Germany has recalled its ambassador to Russia in protest against a series of cyber attacks.
Berlin recalled Alexander Graf Lambsdorff on Monday, three days after he accused Moscow of cyber attacks on the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the country’s defense, aerospace and IT companies. The envoy’s return was ordered just a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration.
The ambassador “has been recalled for consultations and will stay in Berlin for a week and then return to Moscow,” a Foreign Office spokesman told reporters.
Germany will not be represented at Putin’s inauguration on Tuesday for his next six-year term, which was sealed by a landslide victory in March elections, the spokesman noted.
Berlin summoned the Russian ambassador on Friday to protest against a campaign it said was launched two years ago by a group linked to Moscow’s GRU military intelligence service.
Citing an investigation into a cyberattack on the SPD, which leads the governing coalition, in 2023, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused the APT28 group of being “controlled by Russia’s military intelligence.”
The group, also known as Fancy Bear, is accused of dozens of cyberattacks worldwide.
According to the Interior Ministry, German companies, including those in the defense, aerospace and information technology sectors, as well as targets related to Russia’s war in Ukraine were also at the center of the attacks.
The investigation found that a hacking campaign began at least as early as March 2022, a month after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. The ministry said emails were retrieved from the SPD headquarters from December of this year.
“It was a state-sponsored Russian cyber attack on Germany, and that is absolutely unacceptable and will have consequences,” explained Baerbock.
Rocky relationships
Russia has rejected previous accusations by Western governments that it had orchestrated cyberattacks.
Last week, the Russian Embassy in Berlin “categorically rejected the allegations that Russian state structures were involved in the present incident as unfounded and unfounded.”
The allegations come as concerns are growing in Europe over Russia’s suspected role since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and ahead of next month’s European elections.
The Czech Republic said last week that APT28 had targeted its institutions.
Diplomatic tensions are rising amid allegations made shortly before the inauguration of Putin – whose election victory the West has expressed doubts about.
French sources told Reuters on Monday that Paris would send its ambassador to Russia for the inauguration, but added that France had noted the result of Russia’s March 18 elections and the repressive context in which they took place. condemned in the strongest terms.
The state news agency RIA reported on Monday that the Russian Foreign Ministry had summoned the British ambassador to Russia. The ministry did not give a reason.