Russia accused Germany today of used baseless myths about Russian hackers to inflame tensions and suggested that Berlin's decision to recall its ambassador for consultations would lead to a further deterioration in bilateral ties, Reuters reported.
Germany said it had recalled its ambassador to Russia for consultations after Berlin accused Moscow of carrying out cyber attacks against German defense and aerospace companies as well as the ruling party.
"Berlin regularly uses the myth of malicious activity of alleged Russian hackers in Germany and this is done to inflame tensions in bilateral relations," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, adding: "No evidence was presented." .
Berlin said the attacks began two years ago and targeted Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party (GSDP), as well as companies in the logistics, defense, aerospace and information technology sectors. German authorities added that they had not released details of the damage for security reasons.
Zakharova said the West is waging an information war against Moscow that includes fabricated or false claims aimed at stoking fears of Russia.
"The recall of the German ambassador from Moscow is nothing more than another hostile step aimed at inflaming anti-Russian sentiments in Germany, which leads to further deterioration of bilateral relations," Zakharova said, adding: "All responsibility for that it lies on the German side".
Zakharova also said, commenting on a statement by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, that the war in Ukraine will end in just two weeks if the West stops the supply of military aid to Kiev.
Borrell said earlier this month that Ukraine's existence depended on the West and that the war would end in two weeks if Western arms supplies stopped. He added that he would not like the war in Ukraine to end like this.
When asked how to de-escalate tensions between Russia and the West, Zakharova replied that it is the West that has hardened its rhetoric towards Moscow.
"This is what we need for de-escalation, and Borel said it: if you stop supplying Kiev with weapons, it will all be over in two weeks. This is the formula for de-escalation," the spokeswoman added.
Poland was this week the target of a hacking attack by a Russia-linked group, the state-run National Research Institute announced today.
"Malware was used against Polish government institutions this week by the APT28 group, which is linked to Russian intelligence services," the institute said in a statement.