Latest news with #Russian-sponsored
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nato base in Britain ‘would be knocked out' by undersea cable attack
A major Nato base is at risk of being knocked out by a coordinated attack on the subsea cables serving Britain, a parliamentary committee has been warned. The Allied Maritime Command, known as Marcom, acts as the operational headquarters for all of the alliance's maritime forces and is based in Northwood, Hertfordshire. But the military facility is one of several that rely on fibre-optic cables connecting the UK with Europe and America via the seabed – leaving it potentially vulnerable if an adversary attacks multiple cables at once – a retired Navy commodore told a joint committee of MPs and peers. In a hearing on Monday, the parliamentarians were also warned that Britain and its Nato allies had forgotten how important undersea infrastructure was to modern society due to a greater focus on 'distant wars' in recent decades. It follows recent incidents of suspected Russian-sponsored sabotage against subsea cables carrying huge quantities of data between European countries. Asked whether a coordinated attack on the cables running into Britain risked knocking out Marcom, Commodore (Rtd) John Aitken told the joint committee on national security strategy: 'Yes, they would be in a very difficult position. There was a known fragility around those cables. It is something that is being treated at the moment, I think. 'There are reversionary systems available, but they wouldn't be immediately available, and they would offer a reduced capability. 'But yes, if there were a coordinated attack against specific cables, then there would be a loss of capability – which would take hours to restore.' Danish navy captain Niels Markussen, the director of Nato's Maritime Centre for Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure, added that members of the alliance were 'behind the curve' on threats to subsea infrastructure. He said: 'I think what we haven't focused on, what we haven't realised, is how important this is and how important it has grown over time. We have simply forgotten that. 'So security has, in a long period of time where we have been fighting the distant wars, moved a long way from [where it is] in our head, so we haven't really thought [about] security in this area.' He added that dealing with an incident involving undersea cables was not always straightforward because it is often hard to distinguish between accidental damage and intentional sabotage. Many cables also have lengthy sections that pass through international waters, Mr Markussen said, creating a legal 'grey zone' that clouds how to respond. The revelations highlight the UK's dependence on cable infrastructure for military capabilities, as well as other important systems such as international financial markets, telecommunications and the internet. Roughly 500 cables around the world carry 95pc of all international data. But their remote locations make them difficult and costly to monitor, an issue that has come to the fore amid recent suspected incidents of sabotage. At least 11 subsea cables have been damaged in the Baltic Sea since October 2023 and similar issues have been reported in the North Sea. The incidents have fuelled concerns about potential vulnerabilities, with more than 50 Russian ships observed in areas of high cable density. Experts have suggested in future that unmanned, autonomous underwater drones – such as the Navy's recently named Excalibur – could be deployed to protect undersea infrastructure in future. But Mr Aitken warned that doing so would be more complicated than it sounds, due to the difficulty of controlling and communicating securely with such vehicles at depth. 'I do get nervous about the focus currently on drones and people thinking they will be able to act in the same way as unmanned aerial vehicles did in Ukraine,' he said. 'The underwater domain is completely different to the air domain. Communication and control with an unmanned underwater vehicle are much more difficult than with an airborne vehicle or a land vehicle.' He added that potential missions could include sending a drone to check up on a cable before returning to a 'mothership' to report back. But Mr Aitken said: 'Once any vessel has dived, then communication at depth becomes extremely problematic.' A Nato spokesman declined to comment on 'hypotheticals' but said the alliance remained 'flexible and agile in its ability to command and control Allied Forces'. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'We are committed to maintaining and enhancing the security and resilience of critical undersea infrastructure. 'Just as the Defence Secretary called out the activities of the Russian spy ship Yantar hovering over our undersea cables, let those who threaten the UK or our allies be in no doubt that we will defend our undersea infrastructure. 'This is one area that the Strategic Defence Review is looking at in order to enhance our homeland security.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Mint
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Germany foils alleged Russian plot to mail incendiary devices
BERLIN—German police detained three men suspected of planning to mail packages laden with explosives in a Russian-sponsored act of sabotage reminiscent of recent attacks on DHL logistics hubs, prosecutors said Wednesday. The arrests could shed light on last year's explosions at DHL hubs in Germany and the U.K., which Western security officials alleged were part of one of the most audacious acts of sabotage ordered by the Kremlin and whose target included flights to the U.S. and Canada. The suspected plot, if confirmed, would also show that the Kremlin has continued to design and conduct increasingly daring attacks on the West since President Trump arrived in the White House. Trump has initiated a rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin with the aim of negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. European officials suspect Russia is behind a string of incidents in the region in recent years, including the spraying of divisive graffiti, the severing of subsea cables in the Baltic Sea, arson attacks on a weapons factory and the planned murder of a German defense executive. While authorities have detained and charged suspected Russian proxies for some of the attacks, governments have struggled to obtain evidence that they were acting on the Kremlin's behalf. This might be changing. This week, Poland said it would close the Russian consulate in Krakow after finding evidence that Moscow was behind a fire that destroyed Warsaw's biggest shopping center last year. German investigators think the plot dismantled last week was at an early stage and that the suspects had yet to mail actual explosives, according to German officials. There is no evidence linking the trio with explosions last July at DHL logistics hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England. Following the explosions, Lithuania and Poland arrested several people believed to be involved in that plot. Germany's federal prosecutor's office said two Ukrainian nationals identified as Vladyslav T. and Daniil B. were detained in Germany last week. A third person, Yevhen B., was detained in Switzerland on Tuesday. By the end of March, the men had agreed with one or more individuals acting on behalf of Russian authorities to carry out arson and bomb attacks on logistics operators in Germany, the prosecutor said. The men allegedly planned to send several packages containing incendiary or explosive devices designed to detonate in transit. In late March, Vladyslav T. sent two test packages containing GPS trackers from the German city of Cologne, according to the prosecutor. German authorities believe Yevhen B., whose extradition by Switzerland has been requested, ordered the mailing of the test packages and provided their content via Daniil B. Write to Bertrand Benoit at
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Romania's Presidential Election Drama Has a New Twist
In a scenario that evokes memories of the period immediately following the end of the Cold War, a Central European nation is locked in a battle to fend off Russian influence while safeguarding its democracy. But this time around, there is a critical twist: As Romania strives to maintain the integrity of its representative government, one of the states seemingly working against it is the United States. This weekend, Romania's election authority, the Central Electoral Bureau, disqualified far-right populist candidate Calin Georgescu from participating in May's rerun of the presidential election, ruling that he had 'violated the fundamental obligation to defend democracy.' Georgescu won the first round of the election in November, but Romania's Constitutional Court later annulled the results after intelligence reports alleged that he had benefited from an aggressive Russian-sponsored propaganda campaign on the social media platform TikTok. Almost immediately after Sunday's announcement, Georgescu appealed the election authority's decision, calling it a 'direct blow to the heart of democracy around the world.' His supporters took to the streets of Bucharest in protest, attempting to storm the election authority's headquarters. The demonstration quickly descended into violence, leaving four police officers hospitalized. In just a few months, Georgescu has gone from being a political outsider unknown outside of Romania to being a key figurehead of the global far-right populist movement. His rise has been fueled by savvy online engagement: He has amassed over 700,000 followers on TikTok and 400,000 on Facebook since starting his campaign, allowing him to harness nationalist sentiment, exploit the legacy of Romania's fascist and antisemitic past, and use the ongoing war in Ukraine to push a protectionist agenda. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. Georgescu has accused the European Union and NATO of conspiring to block his path to office and has openly praised Romania's historical fascist leaders. His rhetoric has resonated with Romanians who are disillusioned with the country's political elite, while his social media presence has strengthened his appeal among younger voters. In the aftermath of his disqualification, some of Europe's leading far-right political figures quickly rallied behind Georgescu. Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right Lega party, condemned the election authority's decision as a 'soviet-style EU coup.' But Georgescu's most vocal support has come from the United States. Among his key defenders is Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and a senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump. Taking to X, Musk questioned how a judge could 'end democracy in Romania' following the election authority's decision. This was not the first time Musk intervened on Georgescu's behalf. In late February, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Georgescu, charging him with six offences, including campaign finance violations, support for fascist organizations—illegal in Romania—and fraudulent use of digital technologies. In response, Musk falsely claimed that 'the person who won the most votes in the Romanian presidential election' had been arrested, misleading his millions of followers. U.S. Vice President JD Vance also took a hardline stance, telling the Republican party faithful at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February that Romania no longer shared the United States' values. 'You don't have shared values if you cancel elections because you don't like the result,' he declared, accusing the Romanian government of silencing its people. Vance staked out a similar position in early February at the Munich Security Conference, where he shocked those in attendance by calling mainstream political parties' efforts to keep the far right out of power a bigger threat to Europe than Russia. Unsurprisingly, Moscow has also come to Georgescu's defense. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service recently claimed that 'the European bureaucracy has declared war on 'non-systemic leaders' who openly support U.S. President Donald Trump and refuse to follow instructions from the EU's ruling liberal elites.' Georgescu, for his part, has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as 'a man who loves his country.' Georgescu's anti-EU and anti-NATO positioning not only mirrors Putin and Trump's geopolitical agenda but has major implications for Ukraine, which has depended on Romania as both an ally and a critical transit hub for military aid from its U.S. and European supporters. Should Romania fall under the influence of Georgescu, it would likely sever these strategic ties, shifting the balance of power in the region and leaving Ukraine further isolated at a time when the U.S. is using military aid as leverage to force Kyiv to the negotiating table. The Georgescu crisis has placed Romania at the center of all these geopolitical tensions. A government trying to defend its hard-won democracy is being pulled in multiple directions by competing powers: Russia, which has always considered Romania part of its sphere of influence; the EU, which is struggling to defend itself from malign forces; and a U.S. administration that appears hostile to Brussels and willing to appease Moscow. Romania has also become a test case for whether democratic institutions can withstand rising populism in an era when online misinformation spreads so rapidly. More worryingly, despite the Romanian government's firm pro-Western stance, support for Georgescu has continued to grow. Having won roughly 23 percent of the first-round vote in a six-candidate field, he now commands around 40 percent of voter support, according to the latest polls, a figure that has remained stable despite his disqualification. Not even a ruling on March 6 by the European Court of Human Rights dismissing Georgescu's appeal of his disqualification, which he claimed was 'unlawful and disproportionate,' could quell the unrest among his supporters. As Romania approaches its presidential election rerun in May, it faces an uphill battle to preserve public trust in its democratic process. However, this struggle is no longer just about one election—it has become a question of whether a European democracy can survive when one of its former allies is actively working against it. For decades, the U.S. positioned itself as a global defender of democracy. Yet, under Trump's leadership, Washington is no longer a champion of democratic governance but rather an active enabler of ultranationalist movements. The fact that both the U.S. and Russia are now aligned in their support for a Romanian far-right populist marks a fundamental shift in global politics. Meanwhile, Putin more than likely sees the destabilization of Romania's democracy as a strategic victory, further undermining European security and possibly diminishing Ukraine's prospects for sustained Western support. When it finally takes place this May, Romania's presidential election will now avoid the worst-case scenarios that Georgescu threatened to manifest. But the impact of the events since November could still help shape the future of European security and trans-Atlantic relations, while illustrating the threats facing democracy itself in an age of resurgent nationalism and geopolitical upheaval. Amanda Coakley is a strategic adviser and Europe's Futures Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. In 2024 she was named an Aspen U.K. Rising Leaders Fellow. Her monthly WPR column appears on Wednesdays. The post Romania's Presidential Election Drama Has a New Twist appeared first on World Politics Review.
Reuters
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Russia-linked propaganda campaign pushes to undercut German support for Ukraine
A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT Behind a traveling photo exhibit in Germany about the suffering of children in the Russia-Ukraine war is a network connected to Moscow. It comes as officials in Berlin report an increase in Russian-sponsored interference ahead of German elections. BERLIN - The photographs are stirring: images of children purportedly killed in the Russia-Ukraine war, their faces staring out from banners in city squares in Germany. The exhibit of monochrome photos is part of a broader messaging campaign called 'Children of War,' a clarion call to the continent's leaders to end the fighting. Publicly, the exhibit's organizers say they aren't affiliated with any government, and are driven by a desire to end the suffering of innocent young people. The exhibit typically carries the title 'Alley of Angels.' But behind the scenes, a network of people with links to the Russian state helped organize, promote and support the campaign, Reuters found, according to people familiar with parts of the network as well as a review of social media accounts, corporate filings and government records. The goal was to penetrate protest movements in the European Union and erode support for governments supplying weapons to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, according to documents shared with Reuters by two sources from a European intelligence agency. The documents, they said, are intercepted progress reports from some members of the network in Germany to their handler in Moscow. The reports contain photos of the Alley of Angels exhibit at German political protests and updates on the campaign behind it. Details of the Moscow-linked propaganda operation come as German intelligence officials have reported an increase in Russian-sponsored espionage and sabotage and established a task force to fend off attempts by foreign states to influence a national election this month. Germany is Ukraine's second-biggest weapons supplier after the United States. Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, told Reuters that against the backdrop of Russia's war on Ukraine, Moscow 'has a great and obvious interest in influencing the election results in order to assert its own strategic interests.' The BfV declined to comment on Reuters' findings about the network's activities. Germany isn't alone: Elsewhere in Europe, officials have accused Moscow of deploying information operations to sow discord and sway public opinion in its favor on its war with Ukraine. Last month, Warsaw said it had identified a Russian group tasked with influencing Poland's upcoming presidential election through disinformation and stoking instability. The Russian embassy in Warsaw said at the time it had no information on the matter. Reuters reporting reveals how a network of people, some with links to the Russian state, pushed the Kremlin's agenda in Germany. A key message of the Children of War campaign behind the exhibit is that the West should stop arming Ukraine. Some details of the operation couldn't be determined, such as who authored the progress reports describing the activities of the Children of War campaign. But at the center of the network is a Soviet-born schoolteacher living in Germany who runs the photo exhibits, Reuters found. She has been assisted by at least two other Soviet emigres in Germany. The campaign's supporters also include a Russian news outlet run by a retired colonel in the GRU – Russia's foreign military intelligence service – that promoted the Alley of Angels exhibit. And the European intelligence sources who shared the documents with Reuters named the network's Moscow handler as a current GRU military intelligence officer named Vitaly Konovalov. Reuters independently identified a man of the same name and birthdate in Russian tax and phone records, which list his work location as a building that is part of the GRU headquarters in Moscow. A man who answered a mobile phone number linked to Konovalov ended the call when told he was talking to a journalist. Konovalov did not reply to written messages. The GRU and the news outlet didn't respond to comment requests. The Kremlin didn't respond to detailed questions for this report, including whether Russian authorities had anything to do with the photo exhibit or the progress reports or have tried to influence German politics through such campaigns. Russia's foreign ministry has denied allegations it tried to influence elections in Europe, saying that mainstream parties falsely blame Russia to explain away their electoral setbacks. The most prominent public face behind the Alley of Angels photo exhibit in Germany is a Soviet-born schoolteacher named Oksana Walter. Walter told Reuters that neither she nor her Children of War campaign have links to the Russian state. She said she knew nothing about the progress reports. Since its 2022 launch, the photo exhibit has appeared in cities across Germany. It has drawn the attention of representatives of the far-right anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which favors closer ties with Moscow. Among those who have shown support for Walter's campaign is former AfD lawmaker Ulrich Oehme, who visited the exhibit in Magdeburg city in 2023. With the banners of children's faces visible behind him, Oehme said, 'Russia is not my enemy,' according to a video posted to a social media account associated with the exhibit organizers. Oehme told Reuters he met Walter for the first time that day at her stand at the fringes of an AfD event, while noting he was already aware of who she was. He said the suffering of civilians in the conflict 'cannot leave anyone indifferent' and he opposes sanctions on Moscow because 'the loser is always the population on both sides.' The following year, at a demonstration in Frankfurt attended by right-wing groups, one of Walter's Alley of Angels logos featured prominently on a stage where speakers addressed the crowd. The exhibit itself was displayed opposite an AfD stand. Asked about the link, the AfD said it was unaware of the group behind the photo exhibit and ruled out that the party was influenced by it. Walter said her activities 'are not connected in any way with any political movement or political organization.' The Ukraine-Russia war is Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two. Its outcome hangs in the balance with Donald Trump's return to the White House. Trump has criticized the scale of U.S. military and financial support for Kyiv. On Wednesday, he said both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed a desire for peace in separate phone calls with him. On Thursday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine won't accept any Moscow-Washington agreement on its fate without Kyiv's involvement. Zelenskiy's office didn't respond to a request for comment on the findings of this report. MOSCOW CONNECTIONS The Alley of Angels exhibit debuted in the city of Cologne on June 4, 2022, at a gathering of activists from Germany's Russian-speaking community. It was just a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The exhibit included a series of large banners, including several featuring rows of monochrome photographs of children purportedly killed in the Russian-controlled Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Moscow-backed separatists have fought Kyiv's army there since 2014. According to the region's pro-Russian administration, 239 children were killed in Donbas between 2014 and 2024. Key elements of the exhibit resemble those of a Kremlin-backed public-relations campaign launched days earlier. That campaign, too, centered on photos of children purportedly killed in the Donbas. It received a grant from a Kremlin agency of more than $200,000 and started on June 1, according to the agency's website. The Moscow-backed campaign also used the 'Alley of Angels' title. The phrase is taken from a war memorial of the same name in the Donbas city of Donetsk, according to details about the grant on the Kremlin agency's website. The grant application says the project was to take place online and also include physical events in Russia. It also identifies at least eight foreign countries, including Germany, where media and local partners were supposed to promote the concept. The man behind the not-for-profit firm that proposed the Kremlin-funded idea is a Russian movie producer named Vadim Goryainov, a Reuters review of corporate records shows. The 59-year-old studied in the military psychology department of an institute run by the Russian defense ministry, according to his profile on social media platform VKontakte. Neither Goryainov nor the Kremlin agency that approved the funding, called the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, responded to comment requests. The Russian defense ministry didn't respond to questions about Goryainov. Reuters didn't find evidence of interaction between Goryainov's team and organizers of the Cologne exhibit. People from the former Soviet Union living in Germany have been amplifying Russia's message, however, Reuters found. RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE Oksana Walter says she is the creator of Kinder des Krieges, or Children of War, the German project that centers on the Alley of Angels photo exhibit. The 42-year-old said she was born in the former Soviet state of Kazakhstan to a Russian father and Ukrainian mother and later moved to Germany, where she works as a school teacher. Because of her multinational background, she said, 'I cannot be against this or that country.' Walter was in a relationship with a Soviet-born, ethnic-German member of the AfD party, according to the man, Alex Berg. Berg told Reuters he opposed war and the suffering of children. Both he and Walter said their relationship ended about a year ago. Walter said her project isn't linked to Russian intelligence or any other branch of the Russian state. She said she neither supports nor receives backing 'from any state structure of any country,' she said. Asked by Reuters who funds the campaign, Walter said, "I implement all my ideas at my own expense." Her campaign has expanded to highlight other conflicts as well, she said. The group has also highlighted in its exhibit the deaths of children in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. A key promoter of Walter's campaign has been a Russian news agency called ANNA-News. It is affiliated with the GRU, Russia's foreign military intelligence service, according to the two European intelligence sources and two people who previously worked at the news outlet. The European intelligence sources showed Reuters what they said was a letter from an ANNA-News executive to a GRU officer seeking the intelligence agency's intercession to protect it from a Russian tax demand. The letter states that ANNA-News deserves support because it "stands up for patriotic, pro-state values, defending the interests of Russia in the information space." The ANNA-News website itself points to a GRU connection: Biographical details posted there about the news outlet's editor-in-chief, Anatoly Matviychuk, say he is a retired GRU colonel. The ANNA-News account on Vkontakte also carries a photo of editor Matviychuk wearing a Russian military uniform. ANNA-News has published supportive posts about Walter's activities since late 2022. A December 2022 post on ANNA-News' Telegram channel called Walter's Children of War campaign an 'important' project. The news outlet has published more than a dozen items about the campaign, including videos and photographs of the photo exhibit. ANNA-News and editor Matviychuk didn't respond to a request for comment. The GRU didn't reply to questions about whether it is affiliated with the news outlet. Walter told Reuters that she had no connection to ANNA-News beyond its having published news reports about some of her events. MAN IN BERLIN Another man born in Soviet Russia, Yevgeny Bort, set up a channel on Telegram that has supplied European political news for ANNA-News. Bort has provided practical help, financial assistance and advice to Walter and her campaign, he told Reuters. Based in Berlin, Bort has run enterprises including a catering business and a marketing firm and has set up online portals that publish news from Europe in German and Russian. Of ANNA-News, Bort said he has supplied photographs from protests in Berlin to the news agency and has in the past visited its Moscow offices. He described ANNA as a legitimate news agency. He said he knew nothing about the past jobs of editor Matviychuk and other staff. Bort says he helped Walter by creating a website for the Children of War project, finding a firm to fabricate the big photo banners of the children, supplying money for expenses linked to the campaign, and providing advice. Walter acknowledged Bort provided some financial assistance, which she said amounted to a few hundred euros. The only advice from Bort she followed, she said, was that she not support anti-German events. Bort, 47, told Reuters that he helped Walter because they are friends and he shares her view that children need peace. He said he never carried out any tasks for, or took money from, any Russian state agency. Bort also has met with a Russian man named Andrei Bogdanov, according to Bort and a photo Reuters viewed that shows the two men together. Bogdanov handled public relations for Putin's United Russia party during the Russian president's first term in the early 2000s. Bogdanov still regularly performs election-campaign work on behalf of the Kremlin, two people close to the Kremlin told Reuters. He is also Russia's chief Freemason, a centuries-old fraternal organization. Bogdanov stood as a presidential candidate in Russia in 2008 against Putin's chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, in a contest that critics called a sham. Bogdanov at the time denied retaining Kremlin links or being a Kremlin operative. Bort told Reuters that he and Bogdanov saw each other at big events and that his contacts with Bogdanov were about Masonic business. The two fell out last year, Bort said. Bort is registered as treasurer of a German-Russian Masonic lodge in Berlin, according to German corporate records. Bogdanov didn't respond to a request for comment for this report, and the Kremlin did not reply to questions about him. Bort said he had stopped working with ANNA-News by the time of Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. ANNA-News, however, continued until May 2024 to re-post news items from a Telegram channel Bort created. Bort told Reuters that he lost access to the Telegram channel over a year earlier – that is, sometime in 2023 – after losing his mobile phone containing his log-in details. He said he doesn't know who now runs the channel. ANNA-News didn't reply to questions about Bort. Bort and Walter each said they object to Reuters publishing photos of them or reporting certain facts about them, such as Bort's freemason affiliation. Both claimed these facts and images constitute private personal information under European data protection laws. Reuters is reporting details about Walter and Bort and their involvement in pro-Russia messaging as a matter of public interest. Social media accounts associated with Walter's campaign have posted numerous pictures and videos of her at her photo exhibits. Bort's role as treasurer of a freemason's lodge is disclosed in German corporate-registration records. 'DESTABILIZING GERMAN POLITICS' As Walter's Children of War campaign unfolded, Moscow was receiving progress reports on it, according to the two European intelligence sources. The recipient, they said, was current GRU officer Konovalov. The European sources shared with Reuters what appear to be four progress reports and a planning document that cover events between spring 2023 and January 2024. The reports are unsigned; Reuters couldn't determine who wrote them or how they were transmitted. They describe how unidentified activists involved in the campaign supplied banners, formulated slogans and contributed in other ways to political demonstrations in Germany. One report, covering May 2023, includes two receipts for large banners from a German printing company. The receipts name the customer as Oksana Walter. Contacted by Reuters, the company said the receipts, which dated from 2022, were authentic. The reports talk up the activists' impact, including claims of success in penetrating protest movements. One report highlights the activists' role in a leftist pro-peace rally in November 2023, asserting they were 'infiltrating the protest structure.' Reuters couldn't verify those claims. The planning document, dated Jan. 8, 2024, describes help with branding, slogans and other assistance to an upcoming protest by farmers against subsidy cuts: 'We are participating in a protest movement that truly is destabilizing German politics,' the unnamed author writes. Organizers of the farmer protest said they knew nothing about Walter and her group. Both Walter and Bort said they do not share the objectives expressed in the progress reports – infiltrating German politics, causing dissent and amplifying unrest. 'My social activity is purely peaceful and intended for the good of our future, our children,' Walter told Reuters. Mari Saito Thomson Reuters Mari Saito is an investigative reporter with an international remit, covering everything from wars to popular protests. Most recently Mari produced a series of investigations about war crimes in Bucha, the infiltration of Ukraine's security services by Russia, and the discovery of thousands of pages of Russian military documents in a bunker in eastern Ukraine. Mari, who is originally from Tokyo, also uncovered corruption in the run-up to Japan's Olympic Games and has worked on a series of investigations about asylum seekers in Japan and labor abuses by automakers. Tassilo Hummel Thomson Reuters Tassilo is based in Paris and covers the luxury sector, its main players and trends. He previously wrote about French politics and business, EU institutions and NATO. Anton Zverev Thomson Reuters Anton Zverev is a part of an award-winning team of investigative reporters who focus on Russia and its war in Ukraine. He has been covering the conflict since the Donbass uprising in 2014, having investigated the MH17 crash site, Russian military and mercenary activities in Ukraine and Syria, and the Kremlin's preparations for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since the invasion, the team has uncovered details of killings in Bucha and the expulsion of dozens of toddlers from Ukrainian orphanages, and it has also uncovered a network of Russian proxies in Germany helping to turn public opinion against Kyiv. Previously, Anton led a Moscow-based team of Reuters investigative reporters that covered political, economic and health issues in Russia. He's now based in the United Kingdom.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
France, Germany, others urge EU Commission to protect elections in Europe from foreign interference
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - France, Germany and 10 other European Union countries want the European Commission to use its powers under the Digital Services Act to protect the integrity of European elections from foreign interference, a letter signed by the 12 countries showed. In the letter, European affairs ministers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Romania, Slovenia and Spain asked the commission to deliver on promises to create a dedicated EU body to counter foreign information manipulation and interference. "The escalating threats of foreign interference and disruptive interventions in public debates during key electoral events represent a direct challenge to our stability and sovereignty," the letter, seen by Reuters, said. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. "Recent incidents demand urgent and united action to defend forthcoming elections in the EU," it said. EU diplomats said the letter was referring to interference mainly by Russia and China, but also other cases. Germany faces snap elections on Feb. 23 and has set up a task force to head off any foreign state attempts to influence the vote after warning of Russian-sponsored espionage and sabotage. Last week Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, appeared at Germany's far-right AfD election campaign event to support the party for the second time in as many weeks. In December, the commission opened an investigation against social media firm TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, over its suspected failure to limit election interference in the Romanian presidential vote in November. Government officials in Poland, which has presidential elections in May, have warned Russia was recruiting Poles to influence the election. "We urge the Commission to lead by fully leveraging the powers granted under the Digital Services Act (DSA)," the letter said. Under the DSA, large internet platforms like X, Facebook, TikTok and others must moderate and remove harmful content like hate speech, racism or xenophobia. If they do not, the commission can impose fines of up to 6% of their worldwide annual turnover.
