The European Union is considering sanctions against Russian hybrid threats — a first-time move intended to curb alleged cyber attacks, election interference, and other acts of sabotage that have reportedly increased since the invasion of Ukraine.
A list of 16 individuals and three entities allegedly connected to Russian hybrid attacks has already been compiled, and could be added to a new sanctions framework EU diplomats are discussing Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Incidents of hybrid attacks have spiked across the EU’s 27 member-nations in the three years since Russia invaded Ukraine, with at least 100 being recorded in 2024 alone.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said last week those could all be “attributed to Russia,” and included “espionage, influence operations.”
“We need to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated,” he said.
Lipavsky’s nation, the Czech Republic, has been one of the most heavily targeted nations of Russian sabotage efforts. Other former Eastern Bloc nations like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland are also being targeted.
Germany and the United Kingdom have also been on the receiving end of suspected Russian hybrid attacks.
Russia’s sabotage efforts across European politics and society have been increasingly felt in the last three years. Earlier in December, Georgia’s Russian-leaning government announced it was suspending talks to join the EU.
And in Romania last week, the recent presidential election was annulled following allegations of heavy Russian interference.
While most of the entities named on the new sanctions list are Russian, three are from Moldova, Ivory Coast, and Georgia, and one is from Togo.
The sanctions themselves were agreed upon during an October 8 meeting of EU officials, and include freezing targets’ assets, banning cooperation with EU businesses and citizens, and prohibitions against entering EU nations, according RBC Ukraine.
Tensions over Russia’s various hybrid-war efforts have been increasing over the last year.
In November, undersea fiber-optic communications cables connecting Lithuania, Sweden, Finland, and Germany were cut, and EU nations blamed Russia.
And in June, Russian saboteurs set fire to a German metal factory in an effort to disrupt weapons shipments to Ukraine.
A month later, a plot to assassinate the CEO of a German arms manufacturer was narrowly foiled.
