Germany Accuses Russia’s Fancy Bear of Air Traffic Cyberattack and Election Meddling

BERLIN — In a sharp escalation of tensions, Germany has officially accused Russia of conducting a cyber-attack against German air traffic control and attempting to destabilize its political system, leading Berlin to summon the Russian ambassador.

A foreign ministry spokesman said intelligence findings “prove that the Russian military intelligence service GRU bears responsibility” for the cyber-attack, which targeted the air navigation service provider’s office communication in August 2024. While flights were not affected, the targeting of critical infrastructure is a severe breach.

The ministry spokesman specifically attributed the August attack to the notorious Russian hacker group, Fancy Bear. This group has a history of high-profile cyber operations, including the 2016 hack of the US Democratic National Committee and the leak of World Anti-Doping Agency data.

This latest incident is part of a wave of suspected Russian cyber-attacks across Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the UK and Romania having made similar accusations of meddling in their domestic affairs.

Beyond the cyber-attack, the German government stated it is now certain that Moscow attempted to “influence and destabilise both the last federal election and the ongoing internal affairs” through a disinformation campaign dubbed Storm 1516.

The campaign focused in part on generating fake content, including videos alleging ballot manipulation just days before the election. Targets included leading candidates, such as the current Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and the Green Party’s Robert Habeck. Chancellor Merz has repeatedly accused Russia of cyber warfare against Germany and is a vocal advocate for using frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

The German foreign ministry announced that in close coordination with its European partners, it would respond with counter-measures to ensure Russia “pay a price for its hybrid actions.”