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Germany sees drastic rise in racist crime

Crime figures released by the Interior Ministry on Wednesday showed sharp rises in xenophobic crimes in 2014, with anti-Semitism and attacks on refugee homes causing particular alarm.

Published: 6 May 2015 16:58 CEST

Germany sees drastic rise in racist crime

A refugee home was burned down in April 2015. Photo: DPA

The figures presented by Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière in Berlin showed that 203 attacks took place against refugee homes in 2014, up from 58 in 2013. Far right groups have been behind the vast majority (175) of these attacks.

Last year also saw a significant increase in anti-Semitic crime. The number of reported incidents rose to 1,596, a 25 percent increase on 2013.

“This development is worrying and must be stopped,” said De Maizière. “Germany is a peaceful and open country. We want to live here in an atmosphere of peace and mutual respect.”

The ministry's report came a day after German representatives admitted to a United Nations committee on racial discrimination that the country still had a long way to go to stamp out racism.

Politically motivated crime in general is on the rise, the figures showed. More than 3,300 cases of politically motivated violence were reported in 2014, a record since figures for this crime were first collected in 2001.

The total number of crimes reported to the police rose in 2014 to more than 6 million cases, a two percent increase on 2013.

The number of burglaries reported meanwhile hit a 16-year high. More than 150,000 incidents were reported to police in 2014, a 1.8 percent increase on the previous year.

“I am greatly concerned by the rise in crime,” said the interior minister. “Particularly worrying is the rise in burglary, but also crimes of deception and narcotics criminality which have once again increased.

But there was some good news in the statistics.

Sexual abuse of children fell back 2.4 percent.

Car theft and violent crime also decreased.

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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