Germany complains about hybrid attacks

The issue was reported on April 13 by Vice Admiral Thomas Daum, Inspector of the German Armed Forces for Cyber and Information Space. Soldiers of the 45th Armored Brigade in Lithuania have stated that they suspect their phone conversations are being intercepted. Disinformation activities have also reportedly taken place in Lithuania, including the spread of false claims about the contingent commander allegedly spending a weekend in Moscow, where he was said to have met with friends.

Activities conducted on the threshold of war have been recorded in Germany for years, with a marked increase following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2022. As other examples of hybrid attacks, Vice Admiral Daum cited, among others, incidents involving drones, espionage attempts, and damage to data transmission cables and power lines in the Baltic Sea. The alleged main perpetrators are believed to be located in Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

At the end of April, NATO’s cyber defence exercise Locked Shields is scheduled to take place. Germany, together with around 40 other countries, will train in repelling cyberattacks. These will be NATO’s largest and most complex multinational cyber defence exercises.

Virtually all of Europe is experiencing attacks similar to those targeting Germany. They are most frequently recorded in countries closest to Russia—primarily Poland and the Baltic states. In 2025, Estonia’s counterintelligence service detected and thwarted the activities of 16 agents and collaborators of Russian intelligence services, the GRU and FSB. This represents a record number of arrests in that country. Most of these agents were ordinary individuals recruited by Russian intelligence for one-time operations.