When the German battalion deployed as part of the Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) mission in Lithuania in February 2017, Russian outlets targeted them in an information campaign, likening their presence to the Nazi occupation, 5 alleging the presence of a Russian agent among German troops, and the raping of a teenage girl by a German commander. Two prominent examples of Russian disinformation activity against Germany stand out. 3 The campaigns attempt to portray an image of “Russophobia” in Germany and Germany’s avoidance of dialogue. In fact, the database -a flagship project of the European External Action Service’s East StratCom Task Force-has counted more than 700 cases of Russian disinformation against Germany since 2015-by far the most of any European Union (EU) member state. The BSR is a preferred target of these attacks and provocations, and as attacks on the cyber infrastructure of the German Bundestag in 2015 1 and the infamous “Lisa” disinformation campaign in 2016 2 have shown, neither Germany’s size nor its comparatively good relations with Russia guarantees Berlin’s security from Russian political warfare. Actions include the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbass region, as well as ongoing disinformation campaigns, cyber attacks, and violations of air and maritime spaces. Since 2014, the Russian Federation has waged continuous political warfare against its neighbors. The security of the Baltic Sea region (BSR) has gained importance for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Germany in the past decade, even prior to the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall inaugurated a quarter century period of accommodation with Russia, which ended with Russia’s 2014 intervention in Ukraine. The Brandenburg Gate divided East from West Germany during the Cold War.
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