BRUSSELS: Germany’s top diplomat on Friday said Russia will face consequences after accusing its military intelligence service of masterminding an “absolutely intolerable” cyberattack, as NATO and European Union member countries said they will not let Russia’s “malicious” behavior in cyberspace go unanswered.
Relations between Russia and Germany were already tense, with Germany providing military support to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russian state hackers were behind a cyberattack last year that targeted the Social Democrats, the leading party in the governing coalition.
“Russian state hackers attacked Germany in cyberspace,” she said at a news conference in the Australian city of Adelaide. “We can attribute this attack to the group called APT28, which is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia.”
“This is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences,” she said.
The Council of the EU later said that Czechia’s institutions have also been a target of the cyber campaign.
In a statement by the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, the bloc’s nations said they “strongly condemn the malicious cyber campaign conducted by the Russia-controlled Advanced Persistent Threat Actor 28 (APT28) against Germany and Czechia.”
The EU noted that it had previously imposed sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for APT28 attacks targeting the German parliament in 2015. It said it will not tolerate the continuation of such attacks, particularly with EU elections upcoming in June.
NATO said that APT28 targeted “other national governmental entities, critical infrastructure operators and other entities across the Alliance,” including in Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.
“We are determined to employ the necessary capabilities in order to deter, defend against and counter the full spectrum of cyberthreats to support each other, including by considering coordinated responses,” said the North Atlantic Council, the principal political decision-making body within NATO.
Baerbock is visiting Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, with the trip focusing on security policy as China pushes for influence in the Pacific region.
“The defense cooperation between Germany and Australia is close and we would like to deepen it further and together expand it, because we are in a situation where we face similar threats,” said Baerbock, who is the first German foreign minister to visit Australia in 13 years.
Discussions between Baerbock and Australia counterpart Penny Wong centered on the conflict in Gaza. “I think we all understand that the only path out of this cycle of violence that we see in the Middle East at such great cost is one that ultimately ensures a two-state solution,” Wong said.

MANILA: A Saudi medical team has arrived in Manila to transport two 16-month-old girls to Riyadh, who will undergo separation surgery in the capital under the Kingdom’s flagship program for conjoined twins.

Akhizah and Ayeesha Yusoph were born in Panabo City, Davao Del Norte province on the southern island of Mindanao in December 2022. Their bodies share one liver.

“It was in the seventh month that I found out that they were conjoined, when I had my ultrasound. I was shocked,” the children’s mother, Hashima Yusoph, told Arab News.

“All I was thinking at that time was how I can take care of them, how I can do my best to be a mother.”

Not knowing how to help her newborns, the 19-year-old started to look for help to make sure the girls would have a life that is as normal as it could be. It was when they were five months old that a local charity connected her with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

KSrelief was established by King Salman in 2015 and is headed by Dr. Abdullah
Al-Rabeeah, one of the world’s most renowned pediatric surgeons.

The Saudi Conjoined Twins Program spearheaded by Al-Rabeeah has, since 1990, separated more than 130 children from 25 countries, who were born sharing internal organs with their twins.

Akhizah and Ayeesha will be transported to Riyadh on a special medical aircraft on Sunday.

A reception in their and the KSrelief team’s honor was held by Saudi Ambassador Hisham Al-Qahtani on Friday.

The ambassador said that all the medical procedures, transportation and their stay in the Kingdom during treatment will be covered by the Saudi government, following King Salman’s decree.

“This royal initiative comes as part of the Kingdom’s wise leadership commitment — may God preserve it — to care for and concentrate on humanitarian work,” he told the guests and media.

“This humanitarian work reflects one of the prominent achievements of the Kingdom in the field of separating conjoined twins and providing outstanding medical care, where the Kingdom has become a pioneer in the field.”

Akhizah and Ayeesha will fly to Saudi Arabia with their mother and grandmother.

“I’m so happy it’s finally happening ... The doctors said they are very fit to undergo surgery,” Hashima said. “This is really life changing for us.”

Conjoined twins are a rare phenomenon, estimated to occur once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births.

In March 2004, another set of Filipino conjoined twins, Ann and Mae Manzo, underwent separation surgery in Riyadh.

Joined at the abdomen, the pelvis and the perineum, they were successfully operated on in King Abdulaziz Medical City by Al-Rabeeah and his team of 50 doctors and nurses.