EU imposes sanctions in response to Russian hybrid threats for first time

On 16 December, the Council of the European Union introduced restrictive measures against 16 individuals and three entities responsible for Russia's destabilising activities abroad.

The Council of the EU stated that the sanctions are the EU’s response to "Russia's malicious actions and its disregard for the rules-based international order and international law".

The sanctions list includes Unit 29155 of the Russian General Staff's Main Directorate of Intelligence (GRU), which has been involved in assassinations and destabilising operations such as explosions and cyberattacks across Europe.

The EU has sanctioned the Pan-African Group for Trade and Investment, a disinformation network conducting pro-Russian covert influence operations in Africa, and its founder, Harouna Douamba.

Sanctions have also been imposed on African Initiative, a news agency which spreads Russian propaganda and disinformation in Africa, its editor-in-chief Artem Kureyev (an employee of Russia's Federal Security Service), and a senior GRU official who assumed control of Wagner Group operations in Africa after Yevgeny Prigozhin's death.

Additionally, as part of its fight against Russia's Doppelganger disinformation campaign, the EU has sanctioned Sofia Zakharova, an official in the Russian presidential administration, and Nikolai Tupikin, head and founder of the state corporation Struktura.

The sanctions also targeted Vladimir Sergiyenko, a former aide to Eugen Schmidt, a Member of the Bundestag for Alternative for Germany (AfD), who actively cooperated with Russian intelligence agents, as well as Russian businessman Viza Mizaev and his business partner and wife, who were implicated in a Russian intelligence operation targeting Germany's Federal Intelligence Service.

Finally, the EU has included Russian official Alesya Miloradovich and Moldovan businessman Anatolii Prizenka, who facilitated the dispatch of several Moldovan citizens to France in October 2023.

The sanctioned individuals will be subject to asset freezes, and EU citizens and companies will be prohibited from making funds available to them. They will also be banned from entering the EU.

The new EU sanctions regime for hybrid actions against the EU was approved at the level of member states’ permanent representatives in early October 2024. 

At the time, the EU reiterated that Russia’s destabilising actions would not affect its determination to support Ukraine.