The European Union and the United Kingdom on Monday announced a coordinated package of sanctions against Russian individuals and entities, accusing Moscow’s intelligence services of conducting a sustained cyber-espionage and sabotage campaign across Europe. France and Germany separately declared they would summon Russia’s ambassadors in the coming days. The move marks the first joint cyber sanctions package between the EU and the UK since Britain’s departure from the bloc, and it comes as Western officials warn of an intensified Russian “hybrid” campaign to destabilise the continent.

According to statements from London and Brussels, the measures target officers of the GRU military intelligence agency and the FSB’s Centre 16, a unit long accused by Western intelligence agencies of using malware for global espionage. The UK Foreign Office described the campaign as “persistent and increasingly reckless attempts to sow chaos and division across Europe.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told BFM TV that the operations aimed to “capture information or sabotage operations,” citing a failed cyberattack on Poland’s power grid that, according to British officials, could have left 500,000 civilians without electricity in winter. Germany’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador, calling the attacks unacceptable and warning of further sanctions. The Kremlin, through spokesman Dmitry Peskov, dismissed the gathering of Ukraine’s allies as a “coalition of warmongers” but did not directly address the new sanctions.

The EU blacklisted nine individuals and four entities, while the UK added 24 names to its sanctions list, freezing assets and imposing visa bans. The EU said the FSB’s Centre 16 has targeted at least nine member states—including France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland—causing disruptions and financial losses. The UK also sanctioned individuals linked to the Lumma Stealer malware, which it says enabled the theft of sensitive credentials used in Russian espionage, and ten people behind Rybar LLC, a media company resourced by the Russian state that London accuses of spreading disinformation and interfering in European elections. The coordinated action signals a deepening of trans-Channel security cooperation despite Brexit, and it unfolds as the EU weighs a 21st package of sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Western officials frame the cyber offensive as part of a broader pattern of Russian hybrid warfare that has escalated since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Previous incidents include a foiled cyberattack on a Swedish thermal plant, sabotage of a Polish railway line attributed to Russian-linked operatives, and a spate of drone sightings near NATO bases. The French foreign minister said Paris would summon the Russian ambassador “in the coming days,” and the EU’s foreign policy chief indicated that additional names may be added to the sanctions list. The announcements coincided with a summit in Paris of the “Coalition of the Willing,” a group of Ukraine’s allies, underscoring the link between the cyber front and the broader military confrontation. The dossier remains open, with European governments signalling further coordinated designations are under preparation.