MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier this week, German media suggested that Russia "will be intensively trying to influence the election campaign," including by means of conducting cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns. German Chancellor Angela Merkel already raised the concern in November, saying she did not rule out Russia's interference with Germany's 2017 election through Internet attacks and spreading false information.
"As for the Germans, this is a cliche, if Russia 'attacked' the United States, it will, therefore, attack Germany in the cyberspace in the same manner. At least, they are trying to… put the blame for some election campaign failures on Russia," Slutsky said.
The lawmaker added that a few more countries could use the same method of blaming Russia for cyberattacks for their own purposes.
In November, US President Barack Obama said Washington had clear evidence of Russia’s involvement in cyberattacks against US institutions.
In October, US intelligence officials claimed they were confident the Russian government had directed recent compromises of US political organizations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied any interference in the US election and called such accusations absurd and ungrounded.
The next German federal election will take place in 2017.
