Europe live: EU and Nato condemn Russia’s ‘malicious’ cyber activities – as it happened

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• Germany said it has evidence that Russian state-sponsored hackers were behind an “intolerable” cyber-attack last year in which several websites were knocked offline.

• The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said “today we can say unambiguously [that] we can attribute this cyber-attack to a group called APT28, which is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia.” She added that “this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

• Germany summoned a top Russian envoy.

• The Czech foreign ministry said that “some Czech institutions have also been the target of cyber attacks exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook from 2023. The mode of operation and the focus of these attacks matched the profile of the actor APT28.

• A UK government spokesperson said “the United Kingdom stands with the European Union, Germany, Czechia and other allies in strongly condemning malicious cyber activity by Russian Intelligence Services.”

• Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the Lithuanian national crisis management centre, has addressed Russian claims of planned sabotage by a person who allegedly entered to Russia from Lithuania.

• As western governments condemn a police crackdown on protesters in Georgia, the country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, repeated conspiratorial narratives and lashed out at the United States.

• Michael Roth, chair of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, said this morning “Georgian people are fighting for all of us. Freedom and democracy will win!”

A UK government spokesperson said “the United Kingdom stands with the European Union, Germany, Czechia and other allies in strongly condemning malicious cyber activity by Russian Intelligence Services.”

“Today’s statements from our allies demonstrate the scale, persistence, and seriousness of unacceptable Russian behaviours in cyberspace,” the spokesperson said, adding:

“Recent activity by Russian GRU cyber group APT28, including the targeting of the German Social Democratic Party executive, is the latest in a known pattern of behaviour by the Russian Intelligence Services to undermine democratic processes across the globe.”

UN alarm over rightwing laws that could ‘whitewash’ Franco era in Spain

New laws proposed by rightwing and far-right regional coalition governments to “whitewash” the Franco dictatorship could contravene international human rights standards, UN experts on truth, justice, forced disappearances and killings have warned Spain.

Two years ago, Spain’s socialist-led government introduced a Democratic Memory law designed to bring “justice, reparation and dignity” to the victims of the civil war and subsequent dictatorship.

The law, which built on previous socialist legislation, contains dozens of measures intended to help “settle Spanish democracy’s debt to its past”.

Among them were: the creation of a census and a national DNA bank to help locate and identify the remains of the tens of thousands of people who still lie in unmarked graves; a ban on groups that glorify the Franco regime; and a “redefinition” of the Valley of the Fallen, the giant basilica and memorial where Franco lay for 44 years until his exhumation in 2019.

The conservative People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox party – which both opposed the law – have been attempting to replace it with “harmony laws” in three regions where they govern in coalition: Aragón, Castilla y León, and Valencia.

Read the full story.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the Lithuanian national crisis management centre, has addressed Russian claims of planned sabotage by a person who allegedly entered to Russia from Lithuania.

“Russia has been systematically conducting disinformation campaigns and provocations for a long time in order to raise tensions among societies and allies and to cover its aggressive actions,” Vitkauskas said.

“Given that Lithuania is currently conducting the Thunder Strike military exercise, we may see more disinformation attacks of this nature. We urge citizens to remain vigilant and those who disseminate information to be cautious about the disinformation being spread by Russia,” he added.

“Strong allies on our side,” the Czech foreign ministry said after the announcement that a cyber campaign conducted by the Russia-controlled APT28 targeted some Czech institutions.

3 May 202407.56 EDT

Germany summons Russian envoy over 2023 cyber-attacks

Lisa O'Carroll

Germany has summoned a top Russian envoy over a series of cyber-attacks targeting members of the governing Social Democrats and its defence and technology sector.

The 2023 attacks, in which several websites were knocked offline in apparent response to Berlin’s decision to send tanks to Ukraine, have been blamed on a hacker group linked to Russian military intelligence.

It exploited a then unknown vulnerability in the Microsoft Outlook email service and, according to German officials, compromised the servers of affected companies.

Read the full story here.

Scene at the Tbisili opera last night, as protests continue

Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary-general, said “NATO remains committed to countering the substantial, continuous & increasing cyber threat.”

In a statement, the Czech foreign ministry said “Czechia jointly with Germany, the European Union, NATO and international partners strongly condemns activities of the Russian state-controlled actor APT28, who has been conducting a long-term cyber espionage campaign in European countries.”

The ministry said that “based on information from intelligence services, some Czech institutions have also been the target of cyber attacks exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook from 2023. The mode of operation and the focus of these attacks matched the profile of the actor APT28.”

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement on behalf of the bloc that “the European Union and its Member States, together with international partners, strongly condemn the malicious cyber campaign conducted by the Russia-controlled Advanced Persistent Threat Actor 28 (APT28) against Germany and Czechia.”

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” the high representative said.

“The EU is determined to make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace,” he added.

3 May 202405.51 EDT

Germany says Russians behind ‘intolerable’ cyber-attack last year

Lisa O'Carroll

Germany has said it has evidence that Russian state-sponsored hackers were behind an “intolerable” cyber-attack last year in which several websites were knocked offline in apparent response to Berlin’s decision to send tanks to Ukraine.

The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said a federal government investigation into the 2023 cyber-attack on the Social Democrat party (SPD) – part of Germany’s governing coalition and the party of chancellor Olaf Scholz – had just concluded.

“Today we can say unambiguously [that] we can attribute this cyber-attack to a group called APT28, which is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia,” she told a news conference during a visit to Australia. “In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyber-attack on Germany, and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

Read the full story here.

Michael Roth, chair of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, said this morning “Georgian people are fighting for all of us. Freedom and democracy will win!”

In a joint statement yesterday, a group of members of the European parliament said they are “deeply worried about the situation in Georgia” and “condemn the violence against peaceful protesters and opposition politicians.”

David McAllister, Marina Kaljurand and Sven Mikser said they “have already expressed our concern about the re-introduction of the controversial draft law, which is an attack on independent media and civil society organisations.”

“If adopted, this law will jeopardise Georgia’s progress on the EU path. We call on the Georgian leadership to withdraw the draft law and concentrate their efforts on reforms necessary for the accession to the EU and NATO,” they added.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Georgia last night, continuing a series of demonstrations against a controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

As western governments condemn a police crackdown on protesters in Georgia, the country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has repeated conspiratorial narratives and lashed out at the United States – while attempting to draw a parallel between police action in Georgia and police action on US college campuses.

Georgia’s government has been pushing a ‘foreign agents’ law which critics say is anti-democratic and inspired by Russia.

Protesters have been taking to the streets to urge the bill to be withdrawn and call for Georgia to stay on the path toward western integration. The US and European governments, meanwhile, have warned Georgia’s leadership that the bill – and police violence against protesters – are jeopardising the country’s future prospects.

In a post on social media this morning, the Georgian prime minister said he spoke with Derek Chollet, the Counselor of the US state department and “expressed my sincere disappointment with the two revolution attempts of 2020-2023 supported by the former US Ambassador and those carried out through NGOs financed from external sources”.

The bill would require groups such as NGOs receiving more than 20% of their funding from outside Georgia to register as foreign agents.

He accused American diplomats of making “false statements” and “clarified to Mr Chollet that it requires a special effort to restart the relations against this background, which is impossible without a fair and honest approach”.

“I have not expressed my concerns with Mr Chollet about a brutal crackdown of the students’ protest rally in New York City,” Kobakhidze added.

Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.

Send thoughts and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.