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Friedrich warns of political violence

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich warned on Friday that both right and left-wing extremists pose a growing threat to the nation’s security, even though political violence actually decreased last year.

Published: 1 July 2011 09:23 CEST
Updated: 1 July 2011 16:00 CEST

Friedrich warns of political violence

Photo: DPA

The comments came as Friedrich presented an annual report by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which is the country’s domestic intelligence agency the Verfassungsschutz.

“We have the danger of a spiral of violence,” he said, saying pointing to a sharp increase in crime by leftist extremists in the first quarter of 2011.

Friedrich said radical Islam also severely threatened Germany’s security, despite the recent killing of Osama bin Laden.

German officials have recently expressed particular concern about Salafist Islam following the killing of two American soldiers at Frankfurt’s airport by a man who allegedly had contacts with Salafists.

The issue of left and right-wing extremism has also been in the spotlight recently after the two sides engaged in a series of tit-for-tat attacks in Berlin in recent weeks.

The escalating violence has included assaults on high-ranking members of the extreme rightwing National Democratic Party (NPD) and arson attacks on leftist premises.

Though right-wing extremist violence declined nationwide overall last year, it increased slightly in eastern German states.

Friedrich said despite fears, the fusion of the NPD with another extremist party called the DVU, this had not led to a strengthening of the far-right.

The report also mentioned concerns with anti-Semitism among some fringe elements of the more mainstream socialist party The Left.

In April, an anti-Semitic flyer was discovered on a website operated by a regional chapter of the party in Duisburg.

DPA/The Local/mdm

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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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