EU Sanctions Entities, Individuals Amid Russian Hybrid Threats

Russia’s destabilising actions abroad has resulted in European Union sanctioning 21 individuals and 6 entities

4 min
Russian internet © Pavel Ignatov Shutterstock 2012
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The European Union has announced sanctions against a number of people and entities engaged in Russian hybrid operations and destabilising activities.

The EU confirmed that 21 individuals including politicians, officers of the Russia Military intelligence GRU, CEOs and bloggers, as well as six entities including fishing companies, news agencies, and web hosting firms, are now subject to EU restrictive measures and sanctions.

All of the above have been accused of a range of “destabilising activities against the EU, its member states and international partners”, which includes activities such as undersea cable sabotage, crypto services, as well as “Russia’s campaign of media manipulation and distortion of facts.”

Russian special forces © Darren Baker, Shutterstock 2012

EU sanctions

The Council of the European Union also broadened the scope to allow the EU to target tangible assets linked to Russia’s destabilising activities.

This includes vessels, aircraft, real estate, and physical elements of digital and communication networks, as well as transactions of credit institutions, financial institutions and entities providing crypto-assets services that directly or indirectly facilitate Russia’s destabilising activities.

“Furthermore, in light of the systematic, international Russian campaign of media manipulation and distortion of facts aimed at destabilising neighbouring countries and the EU, the Council will now have the possibility to suspend the broadcasting licences of Russian media outlets under the control of the Russian leadership, and to prohibit them from broadcasting their content in the EU,” it stated.

“In line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the measures agreed today will not prevent the targeted media outlets and their staff from carrying out activities in the EU other than broadcasting, e.g. research and interviews,” it announced.

21 individuals, 6 entities

The EU also identified the 21 individuals and 6 entities responsible for Russia’s destabilising actions abroad.

The 21 individuals include Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian politician and businessman who, through his associates Artem Marchevskyi and Oleg Voloshin, controlled Ukrainian media outlets and used them to disseminate pro-Russian propaganda in Ukraine.

Meanwhile Alik Khuchbarov and Ilya Bocharov (both operatives of Russia’s military intelligence agency – GRU) have been identified as being involved in activities aimed at undermining the democratic political process in Estonia and Germany.

Also named for this was German blogger Thomas Röper, the Russian blogger Alina Lipp, the Turkish media company AFA Medya and its founder Hüseyin Doğru.

Private citizens involved in destabilising activities against the EU and partner states were also listed such as Elena Kolbasnikova, Yulia Prokhorova, Rostislav Teslyuk, Andrei Kharkovsky.

On the entity side, two fishing companies, Norebo JSC and Murman Sea Food, are said to be part of a Russia-state sponsored surveillance campaign that have conducted espionage missions and sabotage on critical infrastructure, including undersea cables.

In addition, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Main Radio Frequency Center” General Radio Frequency Center (GRFC) and its acting director Ruslan Nesterenko, that are responsible for actions of electronic warfare including “jamming” and “spoofing” primarily affecting the GPS signal in Baltic states and disrupting civil aviation.

Meanwhile Viktor Lukovenko, the head of listed entity African Initiative, a news agency involved in spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation on the African continent, Justin Blaise Tagouh, CEO of the press group International Africa Media, and Mikhaïl Prudnikov have been spreading Russian narrative and anti-western narrative in African countries.

Sylvain Afoua, founder of the “Black African Defense League”, a structure dissolved in 2021 by the French authorities for spreading an ideology calling for hatred, discrimination and violence, was also listed.

Asset freezes, travel bans

Meanwhile a web hosting service Stark Industries, and its CEO Iurie Neculiti and owner Ivan Neculiti have also been cited as acting as enablers of various Russian state-sponsored and affiliated actors to conduct destabilising activities including, information manipulation interference and cyber-attacks against the Union and third countries.

Those designated will be subject to an asset freeze and EU citizens and companies will be forbidden from making funds available to them.

In addition, natural persons will also be subject to a travel ban, which will prevent them from entering or transiting through EU territories.