The German ambassador to Russia will not attend Putin’s inauguration. Heading to Berlin

According to Berlin, Moscow should have carried out cyber attacks on German defense and aviation companies in the last two years. At the same time, the Kremlin was also supposed to spy on the ruling Social Democrats, writes the Reuters agency. For that reason, Germany withdrew its ambassador to Russia. “The Foreign Minister recalled Ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff to Berlin for consultations,” a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Germany has attributed the cyber espionage campaign to the APT28 group, which is linked to Moscow’s GRU military intelligence. The APT28 group – also known as “Fancy Bear” – exploited a “flaw” in Microsoft Outlook to gain access to email accounts, according to German authorities.

Lambsdorff will stay in Berlin for a week before returning to Moscow, the spokesman added. Germany will therefore not be represented at Tuesday’s inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin for his next six-year term. Not even a Czech diplomat attends Putin’s inauguration. For example, France will be represented at the ceremony by its ambassador.

Concerns have been growing in Europe over suspected attacks by Russian hackers and spies since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and in the run-up to European Parliament elections. Cyber ​​attacks have also affected other countries, including the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.