Germany remains a central focus of Russian disinformation efforts, and Kremlin-backed campaigns continue to grow in scope and intensity.
That was the warning that senior security officials and lawmakers issued this week during a public session of the German parliament’s committee responsible for overseeing the country’s intelligence agencies.
“We have long recognized the threat to Germany from foreign influence and hybrid warfare, especially from Russia,” said Konstantin von Notz, a Green Party lawmaker and the committee’s chairman.
“However, we are now witnessing a new level of intensity, and this development is deeply worrying for all of us.”
[…]
As Germany has emerged as one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, the Kremlin has increasingly perceived Germany “as an enemy” and treated it as one, said Bruno Kahl, president of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND).
Kahl explained that Russian President Vladimir Putin has long waged a “hybrid war” against countries in the West to “create a new world order.” To achieve this end, Putin is using Russia’s secret service agencies “as the spearhead in the fight against the West, with a state mandate, with all the means at their disposal, without legal restrictions and, above all, without any conscience.”
This stuff has foreign policy implications so the BND is very much interested. As a lot of this stuff might affect the military and, more generally, constitutes hybrid warfare the MAD is also very much interested.
Long story short the Russians are currently occupying no less than 19 German intelligence services (The 16 state ones (internal) and the three federal ones, internal, external, military)
If you ever want to see truly terrible architecture btw the BND delivers. Then, for years activists have tried getting freedom of information requests fulfilled by the BND but they’re very good at blocking everything off. Until someone asked, referring to their obligations under laws about the protection of nature, what kind of tree that Christmas tree was they displayed very publicly, and where it came from. That broke them: Instead of writing a 20 page dissertation on why they supposedly don’t have to answer, they simply answered the question. Since then further information could be extracted such as the meal plan of their canteen.