It sparked Russian-German street protests that escalated into a top-level diplomatic dispute between Berlin and Moscow. A top-level government official told AFP the Lisa case was Berlin's "wake-up call" on Russian propaganda. Berlin's biggest fear, however, has focussed on a massive 2015 malware attack that crippled the Bundestag parliamentary network for days. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied Moscow seeks to influence foreign elections but said that "patriotic hackers" are beyond Moscow's control. For one, Germany's multi-party elections are harder to swing than a presidential two-horse race, and Merkel enjoys a huge, double-digit lead.

Source: The Local September 21, 2017 07:18 UTC