German Chancellor Angela Merkel cites 'hard evidence' of Russian hacking

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Parliament on May 13 that she was the target of Russian hacking and she had “hard evidence” of “outrageous” attempts. German magazine Der Spiegel had earlier reported that Russia’s GRU military intelligence service obtained emails from Merkel’s constituency office in 2015.

Merkel said that the investigators had even identified the suspects of 2015 hacking incident but expressed frustration over the fact that it is “not new”. The German Chancellor noted that cyber-disorientation and the distortion of facts were all part of “Russia's strategy”.

"I can honestly say that it pains me. Every day I try to build a better relationship with Russia and on the other hand, there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are doing this," she told parliament.

German intelligence service has frequently thwarted and called out the alleged hacking attempts by Russia to spy on the national leaders. Merkel told the lower house that she will continue the diplomatic efforts to strive for good relations with Russia but attempts of hacking are not making it easier.

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Coronavirus situation

The 65-year-old German leader also talked about the ongoing public health crisis and cautioned the citizens against jeopardising the progress made by the country. Germany has reported over 173,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and around 7,780 with successfully flattening the curve.

Though the European nation has been able to keep the mortality rate comparatively low than other neighbouring countries, Merkel warned that the virus will be present for long. However, the infection rate of the COVID-19 – called the “R” rate - has remained above 1 for the past three days which Germany had earlier brought to 0.3, raising fears of fresh clusters. 

According to the latest report, over 4.3 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide with more than 293,000 deaths, overwhelming health care facilities across the globe. The United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain, are the worst-hit countries due to the pandemic with around 60 per cent of death toll reported from these four countries alone.

Read: Germany Sees Rise In Coronavirus Cases After Easing Lockdown Restrictions

(With agency inputs | Image credit: AP)