UK sanctions Russian spies trying to ‘destabilise Europe'

Independent

a day ago

The UK has sanctioned a string of Russian spies and hackers, accusing them of carrying out a campaign to 'destabilise Europe'.
Those sanctioned include a unit that targeted the daughter of Sergei Skripal years before Russian agents attempted to murder him in Salisbury with the nerve agent Novichok.
Others are accused of belonging to units that have carried out cyber attacks in the UK, France, Germany and the US – while also facilitating strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: ' GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilise Europe, undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens.
'The Kremlin should be in no doubt: we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we won't tolerate it. That's why we're taking decisive action with sanctions against Russian spies.'
In total, 18 officers of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence unit, have been sanctioned, along with three men linked to Moscow's efforts to spread disinformation in West Africa.
They include five men said to have been involved in a cyber attack on Yulia Skripal in 2013, in which the GRU's Unit 26165 targeted her emails with malware known as X-Agent.
Development of X-Agent is said to have been overseen by Lieutenant-Colonel Sergey Morgachev, and involved Aleksey Lukashev, Ivan Yermakov, Sergey Vasyuk and Artem Malyshev, who have all been sanctioned.
Lukashev and Yermakov are said to have carried out the attack on Ms Skirpal's emails, five years before members of a separate GRU unit poisoned her and her father with Novichok.
The Foreign Office accused Unit 26165, which is already sanctioned, of attempting to disrupt investigations into the attempted murder of the Skripals along with another already-sanctioned GRU outfit, Unit 74455.
On Friday, the UK added GRU Unit 29155 to the sanctions list, accusing it of carrying out the poisoning and saying the incident 'underscores how GRU Units integrate cyber operations into hybrid activity with the aim of furthering the Kremlin's objectives'.
Also sanctioned are Aleksey Morenets and Yevgeney Serebriakov, accused of carrying out 'close access operations' against the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Netherlands.
As well as carrying out cyber attacks in Western Europe, Unit 26165 is said to have conducted operations in Ukraine, including carrying out reconnaissance that facilitated the 2022 attack on the Mariupol Theatre that killed hundreds of civilians, including children.
Several of the men sanctioned on Friday are already wanted by the FBI in the United States.
They include Colonel Aleksandr Osadchuk, said to be the commanding officer of Unit 74455. He and others have been charged with a series of offences in connection with Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 US election.
Other men sanctioned by the UK on Friday, including Morenets and Serebriakov, are accused of targeting anti-doping organisations and other sporting bodies around the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro.
Meanwhile, the UK joined the EU in lowering the price cap on Russian oil as Ukraine's allies sought to increase pressure on Moscow to engage in peace talks.
The cap, which is currently 60 US dollars per barrel, will fall to 47.60 dollars from September 2 in a move Chancellor Rachel Reeves said was aimed at 'exploiting' President Vladimir Putin's 'biggest vulnerability'.
Energy revenues account for around 30% of the Russian state's income, making them a key source of funding for the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.
Ms Reeves, who is attending a meeting of G20 finance ministers in South Africa, said: 'The UK and its EU allies are turning the screw on the Kremlin's war chest by stemming the most valuable funding stream of its illegal war in Ukraine even further.'
Mr Lammy added the UK would not 'stand by' while Mr Putin 'continues to stall on serious peace talks'.