Foreign
GERMANY’S domestic intelligence service said Wednesday that it expected to see more Russian propaganda and espionage activities in the coming months.
“Russia is using issues relating to Europe’s energy supply in particular as a… lever,” the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution said in a statement.
The targeted dissemination of false information, for example on gas shortages and price increases, was an attempt to stir up fear in Germany about energy and food shortages that could threaten the country’s existence, the office said.
“Russian propaganda is likely to proliferate within extremist circles and fuel conspiracy narratives with the aim of driving a wedge into our society,’’ the statement continued.
The office said that the Russian state was also expected to further intensify and adapt its political and military reconnaissance efforts.
Russia’s war on Ukraine, as well as its effects on the economy, are topics ripe for instrumentalisation by political extremists, the office said.
But the body’s president, Thomas Haldenwang, pointed out in the statement that there were so far no signs of widespread anti-state protests or even violent mass riots. (dpa/NAN)
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Tags: GERMANY’S domestic intelligence service Thomas Haldenwang
