The European Union and Britain targeted Russia on Monday with coordinated sanctions over cyberattacks in Europe, accusing Moscow’s FSB intelligence agency of involvement in digital attacks.
The move comes as Western officials warn that Russia has stepped up its “hybrid” campaign to destabilize Europe during its four-year war against Ukraine.
Brussels said it was imposing sanctions on nine people and four entities, while London said it was adding 24 names to its blacklist.
The British government said the sanctions – the first joint cyber package with the EU – “target the Russian state’s ongoing and increasingly reckless efforts to sow chaos and division across Europe”.
Among those subject to asset freezes and visa bans were officers of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU and “cybercriminals” suspected of working alongside the Russian state.
In addition, the EU and Britain also said that a recent attempted cyber attack targeting critical infrastructure in Poland, including the power grid, was the latest in a series of such moves by the FSB’s Center 16 spy centre.
“This reckless attack failed but could have caused 500,000 citizens to lose electricity in the dead of winter,” the British foreign office said.
“It’s another example of the Russian state’s irresponsible efforts to sow chaos across Europe.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the Russian ambassador would do so in the coming days regarding the cyber attacks.
Barrot said the attacks targeted government ministries, companies and service operators, with the aim of “either capturing information or sabotaging operations, for example railway infrastructure, as was the case in Poland”.
The French Foreign Ministry added that among the sanctioned targets was “a group that claimed destabilizing actions against the Paris 2024 Olympic Games”.
The EU said that “among others, France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland have been targeted” in a years-long campaign.
The FSB’s Center 16 has previously been accused by Western intelligence agencies of using malware for decades to try to gain access to spy on countries around the globe.
Britain and the EU – which London left in 2020 – have been at the forefront of efforts to punish Moscow with sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
