In the context of the ongoing conflict over Russia’s energy supplies to Europe and growing fears over Germany’s upcoming heating season, attacks on energy sector facilities are not ruled out. “We must be prepared for possible attacks on gas terminals and other critical infrastructure,” warned German Interior Minister Nancy Feather in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper published on Sunday, August 14.

According to her, Berlin admits the possibility of “attacks targeting the energy sector or attempts by extremists to use legitimate protests for their own ends, as was the case during the coronavirus crisis”. At the same time, she does not expect mass protests and riots, it is noted yet.

Germany strengthens internal security

At the same time, Feather warned that budget cuts in the area of ​​homeland security are not expected. On the contrary, the Federal Police created 1,000 new jobs this year, she added. The head of the German Interior Ministry also highlighted that the Russian Federation’s threat of waging a full-scale war against Ukraine has led to changes in German internal security policy. “We must protect ourselves from large-scale disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks from Russia,” he stressed.

Feather noted the successful work of German security forces in this area: since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there has not been a single successful major Russian cyberattack on German systems.

Europe refuses Russian energy carriers

In response to the war unleashed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the European Union has already severely limited the supply of Russian energy carriers, banning the import of coal from the Russian Federation, as well as severely restricting the supply of oil. In addition, EU countries and Brussels are taking steps to phase out Russian gas. For its part, Gazprom has already unilaterally stopped deliveries to several EU countries and significantly reduced the volume of gas exports to some other countries, in particular to Germany.

The EU has adopted an emergency plan to reduce natural gas consumption, which calls for all EU countries to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15% from early August to March 2023, compared to the average consumption of the last five. years during that period. According to the European Commission, in this way EU countries will have to save a total of 45 billion cubic meters of gas.