The United Kingdom and the European Union jointly announced on Monday July 13 that they were taking sanctions against Russia, which they accuse of being at the origin of cyberattacks intended to “sow chaos and division in Europe”.
Britain announced sanctions against 24 individuals and entities linked to Russian intelligence services, with the EU unveiling sanctions against 13 entities and individuals, including Russian military intelligence officers (GRU). “The threat is real, concrete, destructive, everyone is convinced of it today,” assured a security source from an EU country.
London and Brussels have for the first time together named the Russian intelligence services, the FSB, behind an attack on the Polish electricity network. This cyberattack, emanating from “FSB Center 16”, failed, the United Kingdom said, but it could have deprived 500,000 people of electricity “in the heart of winter”.
Sanctions already pronounced
According to the head of EU diplomacy Kaja Kallas, Center 16 has also been behind cyberespionage operations in France since 2010 against “strategic government entities”. “We strongly condemn Russia’s behavior,” said Kaja Kallas, denouncing the Russian authorities’ use of cybercriminals, hackers and private companies to carry out these attacks.
“Whether it is directing criminals against businesses or striking the Polish energy network in the dead of winter, the Russian state is reaching new heights of indignity in its attempts to undermine European security,” denounced British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper.
Britain has already taken sanctions against 3,400 individuals and entities, accused of supporting the Russian war effort against Ukraine. The EU, for its part, sanctioned for the same reasons some 2,700 individuals and entities, and around a hundred others, accused of hybrid attacks against the EU. These sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a travel ban within the European Union.
