German chancellor Angela Merkel said there is hard evidence Russia was targeting her in the 2015 hacking attacks on the German parliament, the Bundestag, which also targeted her own parliamentary email account.
“I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are doing this”, she told parliament on Wednesday.
Last week, German media reported that federal prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant against Dmitriy Badin, an alleged officer with Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, who is also wanted by United States’ authorities for other cyberattacks, including those targeting the Democrats during the 2016 US presidential election.
“I am very glad that the investigations have now led to the federal prosecutor putting a concrete person on the wanted list”, Merkel said.
On Friday, media reported that among information copied by hackers in 2015 was data from Merkel’s email account.
“Unfortunately the conclusion I have reached is that this is not new”, Merkel said, and added that “cyber-disorientation, the distortion of facts” were all part of “Russia’s strategy”, and that such spying tactics are “more than uncomfortable”.
The 2015 operation that targeted the Bundestag involved an aggressive attack called Sofacy or APT 28 that had also struck NATO members and knocked French TV station TV5Monde off-air. Hackers reportedly completely copied two of Merkel’s email accounts containing correspondence dating between 2012 and 2015.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the 2015 hacking attack on the Bundestag. Merkel said there is every reason to keep up efforts for a good relationship with Russia, “but this naturally does not make it easier”.
She also described the action as “outrageous” and said that “of course we always reserve the right to take measures, including against Russia”.
