New EU sanctions target spies, saboteurs, and other organizers of the Kremlin’s hybrid operations exposed by The Insider

The European Union has imposed restrictions against 16 individuals and three legal entities suspected of carrying out “Russia’s destabilizing actions abroad,” marking a first in the EU’s sanctions practice.

“These measures are in response to Russia’s malicious actions and its lack of respect for a rules-based international order and international law,” read a statement issued by the EU Сouncil earlier today. The decision was imposed in line with a new legal framework set up on Oct. 8, 2024 to target Russia’s hybrid threats against the EU.

Aside from the 19 listings mentioned above, the EU also unveiled its 15th sanctions package today, targeted at “further limiting Russia’s ability to wage its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine.”

It includes 84 listings — 54 individuals and 30 organizations that “undermine or threaten the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” 52 ships used by Russia to circumvent sanctions, and 32 entities supporting the Russian military-industrial complex, some of which are located in third countries (China, India, Iran, Serbia and the UAE).

The Insider has reported extensively on Russia's efforts to circumvent sanctions, exposing the circuitous routes that are used to supply the Kremlin's military-industrial complex with restricted equipment, machine tools, microchips, other critical technologies — and even sniper rifles. We have also devoted extensive coverage to the “shadow fleet” of tankers actively delivering Russian oil to various customers at prices above the $60 cap established by a collection of Western governments.

The list of individuals and entities sanctioned for aiding Russia’s hybrid warfare includes the following:

• GRU Military Unit No. 29155, a secret unit of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, known for its involvement in assassinations and destabilizing activities abroad.
  
  “Through coups, assassinations, bombings, and cyberattacks against other countries around the world in connection with the war in Ukraine, it has sought to create chaos and destabilise European Union countries,” the EU document read.
  
  The Insider’s extensive coverage of GRU Unit 29155 has exposed the entity’s responsibility for explosions at ammunition depots in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic and tied the group to Havana Syndrome.