Russia banned entry to German intelligence chiefs

As noted by the Dozhd TV channel , the decision of the Russian Foreign Ministry is connected with the sanctions of the European Union (EU) against the leadership of the Main Directorate of the General Staff (formerly the GRU), announced in October after cyberattacks on the German parliament in 2015. The EU believes that the Fancy Bear group, associated with this Russian special service, is behind the attack.

The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that earlier it had repeatedly offered Germany to hold joint consultations and jointly identify the source of the cyberattacks, but the German authorities ignored these proposals. Therefore, the department came to the conclusion that the German side "was never really interested in a real investigation".

The attack on the German parliament in 2015 lasted for about a month. During this time, hackers managed to download at least 16 gigabytes of information, including tens of thousands of emails from members of parliament and staff of the reception office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In February 2018 The media reported that the websites of the German Ministry of Defense and the German Foreign Office were also attacked by hackers. According to preliminary information, the ART28 group, also known as the Fancy Bears, was behind these attacks.

This October the EU and the UK introduced sanctions against the head of the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff Igor Kostyukov and an employee of the GRU Dmitry Badin. Separate media outlets reported that it was Dmitry Badin who allegedly developed the malicious code that was used in most cyber attacks by military intelligence.

"If the German authorities continue the confrontational line, we reserve the right to apply further response measures", - the Russian Foreign Ministry's website says.

At the same time, Germany and France announced their plans to offer the EU also sanctions against Russia due to the situation with opposition politician Alexey Navalny. The restrictions may affect those whom Paris and Berlin consider guilty of his poisoning, and those "involved in the Novichok program"...