EU sanctions nine people over alleged Russian cyber-spying campaign

EU announces sanctions on nine individuals and four entities over alleged years long cyber espionage campaign.The European Union has imposed sanctions on Russian military officers, hackers and private companies, denouncing what it called a years-long cyber-espionage campaign against the bloc.The European Council said in a statement on Monday that those targeted “contribute to Russia’s efforts to destabilise the EU, its member states and international partners”. The espionage and attacks have taken place in at least nine countries.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US and Ukraine agree on patriot missile production deallist 2 of 3Russian missile and drone barrage kills eight and wounds dozens in Ukrainelist 3 of 3Nine dead as Russia and Ukraine trade drone and missile salvosend of listThe names of the people and entities were not listed in the statement.It said France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland, “among others”, have been targeted.Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said it had summoned the Russian ambassador over the “unacceptable” attacks and said they would be met decisively.“This morning … we summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in connection with hostile cyber attacks,” a ministry spokeswoman told reporters.The summons comes as Ukraine’s Western allies prepare for meetings in Paris on Monday to secure more air-defence commitments for Ukraine.Despite gaining momentum on the battlefield in recent months, Ukraine has been left exposed as Russia stepped up drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region in the past few weeks, killing dozens of people.Ukraine is running low on munitions for its systems and has been largely unable to shoot down ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound, over the past ⁠⁠month.It has pleaded with allies for more supplies and has also pushed Europe to work with it on its own antiballistic air defence system, including at last week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye.