Over the course of its one year-long investigation, German special services couldn't prove that the accusations against Russia over its alleged cyberattacks on the German government widely had anything to do with reality.
"There is absolutely no evidence, no documents, no arguments which could prove or demonstrate that the Russian side or the Russian state authorities have organized any destabilization or disinformation campaign," Rahr told Sputnik Germany.
"We are looking at the situation in other countries. We took notice of the attacks on the Democratic Party in the United States. US special services are certain that it is very likely that Russian special agencies were behind this… We, of course, do not have proof, but, evidently, the same thing could happen in Germany," Maassen said.
However, Rahr believes that such accusations are groundless and are based only on assumptions.
"The fact that security services once again can offer only assumptions, having failed to provide any documented evidence indicating that the Russian side had actually carried out a cyberattack against Germany shows that we are living in the times of an information war, where propaganda plays a greater role than the facts," the expert stressed.
However, despite the negative results of the probe, the German authorities decided to continue the investigation.
Vice-chairman of the eurosceptic "Alternative for Germany" party (AfD) Alexander Gauland commented on the issue, saying that he never believed in the existence of any disinformation campaign on the part of Russia.
"I can't tell you what they're looking for. It is the Chancellor's office you should ask. If they believe they can find something, let's them look for it," Gauland said.
Initially, German intelligence planned to partially make the results of its investigation public. However, in the absence of evidence, the idea of the publication has been given up.
