EU sanctions nine people over a Russian cyber-espionage campaign
The European Union on July 13 imposed sanctions on nine individuals and four entities it accused of running a years-long cyber-espionage campaign on Russia’s behalf. The European Council said the targets contribute to Russia’s efforts to destabilise the bloc, its member states and international partners, citing intrusions and attacks affecting at least nine countries, including France, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Romania and Finland.
Germany summoned Russia’s ambassador, calling the attacks unacceptable and pledging a firm response. The Kremlin dismissed the broader Western posture, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing a concurrent Paris gathering of Ukraine’s backers as a “coalition of warmongers.”
The sanctions coincided with the Paris meeting, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed some two dozen allied leaders for security guarantees and air-defence support. Asset freezes and travel bans of this kind are largely symbolic against state-linked hackers who rarely hold reachable EU assets, but they formalise attribution and set a marker for further measures.