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Russian ambassador rejects German accusations of state involvement in cyberattack on DFS

Sergey Nechayev called the German government's accusations unfounded, unjustified, and absurd

Russian ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev Kristina Zorkina/TASS

Russian ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev

© Kristina Zorkina/TASS

BERLIN, December 12. /TASS/. Russian ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev categorically rejected the German government's accusations that Russian state agencies were involved in a cyberattack on the German Air Traffic Control Service (DFS) and attempted to influence the results of the February 23 Bundestag elections, the embassy said in a statement.

"On December 12, 2025, Russian ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry, where he was presented with a protest in connection with the allegedly proven involvement of the APT28 (Fancy Bear) in a cyberattack on the German Air Traffic Control Service (DFS), as well as the alleged attempts by the Storm 1516 group to influence the results of the German Bundestag elections in February 2025 by spreading disinformation. It was claimed that these groups are controlled by Russian state agencies, in particular, the GRU," the statement said. According to the embassy, German diplomats "stated that these actions are directed against Germany's and its partners' security interests, as well as Germany's efforts to support Ukraine."

"The Russian ambassador categorically rejected the accusations of Russian state involvement in the abovementioned cases and the activities of hacker groups in general, calling them unfounded, unjustified, and absurd. He described the German Foreign Ministry's move as yet another unfriendly step aimed at stirring up anti-Russian sentiment in Germany and destroying Russian-German relations," the embassy noted.

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