'The BfV noted a "striking increase" in the number of attacks attributed to a hacking group known as Fancy Bear, which security experts have linked to Russian intelligence. The group has been blamed for the hacks of the U.S. National Democratic Committee this year and the German parliament in 2015.''German intelligence says Russia is trying to destabilize German society with an intensifying campaign of propaganda, disinformation, and cyberattacks ahead of federal elections next year.
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The BfV noted a "striking increase" in the number of attacks attributed to a hacking group known as Fancy Bear, which security experts have linked to Russian intelligence. The group has been blamed for the hacks of the U.S. National Democratic Committee this year and the German parliament in 2015.
'Enormous' SpendingThe BfV also said it had observed a broad array of Russian propaganda instruments and "enormous use of financial resources" to target Russian speakers, policymakers, and political groups in Germany with "disinformation" campaigns.
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In his December 8 statement, Maassen added that recent cyberattacks targeting German politicians could have been aimed at collecting compromising information about them.'
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German Spy Chief: Russia Trying To 'Destabilize' Germany Ahead Of Elections, December 08, 2016
'..the political war that Moscow is waging against the West, in the hope not of preparing the ground for an invasion, but rather of dividing, demoralizing and distracting it..'The West is at war. It is not a war of the old sort, fought with the thunder of guns, but a new sort, fought with the rustle of money, the shrill mantras of propagandists, and the stealthy whispers of spies.
This is often described as ‘hybrid war,’ a blend of the military and the political, but in fact
there are two separate issues, two separate kinds of non-linear war, which have become unhelpfully intertwined. The first is the way—as the Russians have been quick to spot—that modern technologies and modern societies mean that a shooting war will likely be preceded by and maybe even almost, but not quite, replaced by a phase of political destabilization. The second, though, is
the political war that Moscow is waging against the West, in the hope not of preparing the ground for an invasion, but rather of dividing, demoralizing and distracting it enough that it cannot resist as the Kremlin asserts its claims to being a ‘great power’ and in the process a sphere of influence over most of the post-Soviet states of Eurasia.
- Mark Galeotti,
New Report: ‘Hybrid War or Gibridnaya Voina? Getting Russia’s non-linear military challenge right’, November 28, 2016
Context'[Russia] may become a threat to the world. That is the worst thing that could happen to Russia.' - Yegor Gaidar'The Hybrid War: Russia's .. Campaign Against Germany .. an "information war." In fact, he says, this is the "primary form of warfare" today.''..Putin and the siloviki, like the Bourbons, have learned nothing and forgotten nothing..''Sanctions against Russia will remain in place until Crimea is returned to Ukraine..'(Russia) - '..the economy “will go downward after 2018.” ''..leaders truly interested in curbing Russia's potential for future aggression should take notice..'