Germany has summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires who acts as ambassador in Berlin for an explanation over a series of cyberattacks that it claims targeted the Social Democratic party, as well as the country’s defense and aerospace sectors.

The Interior Ministry attributed these cyber attacks to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. APT 28, the group that orchestrated the 2022 attacks and reports to the GRU, exploited a previously unknown security hole in Microsoft Outlook for a long time to break into email accounts.

“Russian cyberattacks are a threat to our democracy and we are dealing with them decisively,” Interior Minister Nancy Fesser said in a statement, adding that Germany was cooperating with the EU and NATO. “Under no circumstances will we allow the Russian regime to intimidate us,” he added.

Fezer noted that it is critical to counter such attacks by Russia ahead of the European elections and other electoral contests this year.

Earlier, the German Foreign Minister Analena Burbok warned Moscow that it would face consequences for the attacks, which took down many German websites.

APT 28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been active worldwide since at least 2004, mainly in the field of cyber espionage. According to German authorities, it is one of the most active and dangerous cyber-attack groups worldwide.