A spokesperson for the German government accused Russia co-ordinating a cyber attack on the country’s Parliament.

“The German government has reliable information according to which ghost writer activities can be attributed to cyber protagonists of the Russian state or Russia’s GRU military intelligence (service),” a spokesperson for the German government said.

While little is yet known about the operation, the attack comes as Germany heads to the polls this month to elect a new federal government, with media outlets drawing comparisons to a similar series of attacks in 2015.

In 2015, Russia was accused of attacking government computer networks ahead of Germany’s 2015 federal election, which saw the theft of government data including the email accounts of leading government members. The attack prompted EU to place sanctions against Russia in 2020.

“This cyber-attack targeted the parliament’s information system and affected its operation for several days,” the EU said.

“A significant amount of data was stolen and the email accounts of several MPs as well as of Chancellor Angela Merkel were affected.”