Berlin recalls Moscow ambassador following Russian cyberattacks

Germany's ambassador in Moscow Alexander Graf Lambsdorff speaks during the debate on the national security strategy in the German Bundestag. Berlin recalls its ambassador from Moscow after cyber attacks on Schulz's party and German companies Carsten Koall/dpa

The German government has asked the German ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, to come to Berlin for a week of consultations following cyberattacks on the governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) and German companies.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in Berlin spoke of a"standard procedure" on Monday. "The German government takes this event very seriously as behaviour against our liberal democracy and the institutions that support it."

Cyberattacks on the SPD and German companies from the logistics, defence, aerospace and IT services sectors have become public recently.

Last week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin blames a unit of the Russian military intelligence service GRU for a 2023 cyberattack on the centre-left SPD.

"Russian state hackers have attacked Germany in cyberspace," Baerbock said during her visit to Australia in Adelaide.