Alexander Martin
The European Council announced on Monday it was sanctioning 16 individuals and three entities “responsible for Russia’s destabilising actions abroad.”
It is the first time the bloc’s political executive is issuing sanctions under powers established in October. When the powers were agreed, Brussels said they were a response to the Kremlin’s “intensifying campaign of hybrid activities” targeting member states and partners.
The sanctions aim to impact a wide range of actors, from those involved in GRU Unit 29155 — a Russian military intelligence unit that has been accused of cyberattacks and assassinations — through to other intelligence agency staff and private individuals involved in spreading Russian propaganda both in Europe and Africa.
Among the individuals being sanctioned for propaganda are Sofia Zakharova and Nikolai Tupikin, both of whom have been linked to the Doppelgänger influence campaign by a U.S. Department of Justice affidavit.
The sanctions also target several people involved in “a Russian intelligence operation against the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in which highly classified information was passed to the FSB,” including Vladimir Sergiyenko, an aide to a far-right German politician.
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