Contents tagged with Germany
-
German intelligence: Russia seeks to spoil relations between the EU and the US
Russia is using manipulation in an effort to sow discord between the U.S. and Europe and to spoil the close EU-US cooperation, as stated in a joint report by the Federal Intelligence Service of Germany (BND) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the German government, Der Spiegel reports.
According to the newspaper, German intelligence agencies were tasked by the Chancellor to investigate the activities of the Russian security services after a cyber-attack on the …
-
German regulator reduced Gazprom's access to the OPAL system
The German energy regulator, Bundesnetzagentur, has reduced the limit of use of the OPAL gas pipeline for Russian Gazprom to the same level that was installed before, to 50%. As stated in the press-service of the company on Facebook, "The German regulator reduced the limit for Gazprom to use the OPAL pipeline to its former 50% but the actual amount of this reduction has not yet affected the actual volumes."
In late October, the European Commission allowed Gazprom to increase its pumping gas …
-
Berlin invites Russian minister to attend G20 agriculture meeting in Germany despite sanctions
Through a series of diplomatic maneuvers, the German government hopes to circumvent the EU’s travel ban for Russian Minister of Agriculture Aleksandr Tkachov, the DPA news agency reported.
Tkachov is on the list of Russians who are subject to sanctions and is thus prohibited from entering the EU due to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014. However, according to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to host the Russian minister on January 22. …
-
Interior Minister of Germany was asked to protect the country from Russian hackers
After the report by the USA’s Intelligence Service regarding the cyber-attacks from Russia, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany of the Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag ,Thomas Oppermann, addressed the Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maiziere, calling for the strengthening of cyber protections by the Federal Security Agency from possible hacker attacks, as was stated by the politician during an interview with German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, published on …
-
German security agency found Russian link to cyber-attack against OSCE
A Russian trace in December’s cyber-attack against the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was discovered by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Following the attack, OSCE representatives admitted that it is possible for hackers to have gained access to the organization’s secret documents.
Experts hired by the OSCE blamed the attack on the hacker groups ART 28 and ART 29. ART 28 is also known as Fancy Bear and the ART 29 as Cozy Bear. It is …
-
As head of the OSCE, Austria will seek to ease the sanctions against Russia
Austria intends to take advantage of the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in order to ease the European Union’s sanctions against Russia. "We must restore trust in Europe, and transform the sanctions from a system of punishment to a system of incentives," the Foreign Minister of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, said in an interview with Der Spiegel, excerpts of which were published on the website of the edition on Friday, December 30th.
Since the beginning …
-
Russia's Rosneft will control 12 percent of the oil market in Germany
The Russian state-owned company Rosneft starting on January 1st, 2017, will increase the portion of its shares in three German refineries: Bayernoil (from 12.5 percent to 25 percent), PCK Schwedt (from 35.4 to 54.1 percent) and Miro Karlsruhe (from 12 to 24 percent). Rosneft received this possibility as a result of the completion of the agreement on restructuring a joint venture with the refinery and petrochemical company Ruhr Oel GmbH (ROG) in Germany, that was previously signed with the BP …
-
French media: OSCE accused Russia of cyber-attacks on the servers of the organization's headquarters
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe stated that its headquarters in Vienna was subjected to a massive hacker attack. Western security services suspect that the attacks were organized by Moscow, and that Angela Merkel may be the attackers’ main target, Le Monde reported.
The OSCE officially refuses to make any assumptions about who might be behind the Internet pirates that took advantage of vulnerabilities in the operating systems used by employees of the organization. …
-
Spiegel: Russian hackers were not responsible for leak of Bundestag documents
Secret documents of the Bundestag committee responsible for investigating large-scale surveillance of the American National Security Agency (NSA) came to Wikileaks from a person working in the German parliament. On Saturday, December 17, Der Spiegel weekly published the information, citing sources from the German secret services.
Earlier, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported that investigators considered it possible that confidential files appeared at Wikileaks due to …
-
Putin and Merkel discussed Ukrainian crisis and the supply of Russian gas to Europe
The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, had a telephone conversation during which both leaders discussed the supply of Russian gas to European consumers via Ukraine, as well as the Ukrainian crisis, the Kremlin’s website reported.According to the report, Putin stated that he is concerned that Ukraine has been evading the coordination of agreements on purchases of gas from Russia during this winter season. The Russian President …