EU imposes sanctions against Russian cyber spies for years of hacking

The European Union on Monday blacklisted members of a Russian intelligence group that it claims has been engaged in espionage and hacker attacks on targets in the EU and Ukraine since 2010, writes UNN citing Politico.

Details

"A unit of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was responsible for directing the activities of the state-backed hacker group 'Turla', which attacked governments, critical infrastructure facilities and strategic industries across Europe," the statement by the head of the EU diplomatic service said.

The FSB organized attacks by cybercriminals, private companies and so-called hacktivists, "causing disruptions and financial losses," the statement said.

France will also summon the Russian ambassador over the hacker campaigns, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told BFMTV on Monday morning.

The latest sanctions list features the EU cyber sanctions regime, first applied in 2020 against Russian military intelligence GRU officers who carried out attacks, including the global NotPetya malware outbreak and the hacking of the German Bundestag. Brussels expanded the list of sanctioned hackers by adding more GRU officers for attacks on Estonia. Sanctions have also been imposed on individuals involved in Russia's hybrid aggression, such as sabotage and disinformation.

According to the French government, in 2017 'Turla' hacked non-secure email systems at the Ministry of Defense, the following year infiltrated the French embassy in Moscow, and in 2025 stole industrial secrets from a high-tech company. French officials also accuse the group of hijacking third-party infrastructure, including offensive cyber capabilities linked to Iran, to conceal the origin of their operations.

"These operations are directed against military personnel, companies and operators and are intended either to intercept communications or to sabotage operations... for example, railway infrastructure, as was the case in Poland," Barrot said.

As stated by the EU, "the FSB unit was also behind a sabotage operation targeting critical infrastructure in Poland, in particular thermal power plants."

The sanctions imposed on Monday include travel bans and asset freezes for individuals and organizations included in the sanctions lists. They also affect Russian technology companies that support intelligence services, including Advanced System Technology (AST) and NPP Gamma, which will now be banned from doing business in the EU. Previously, in 2021, AST was already placed under US sanctions.

On Monday, the United Kingdom also announced a series of sanctions against 24 individuals and legal entities linked to Russian intelligence services.