Cybersecurity Policy Report, EU Imposes Cyber Sanctions on Russian Officials, Cyber Criminals, (Jun 25, 2024)
Six individuals affiliated with Russian cyber crime groups will face sanctions in the European Union over alleged attacks on critical infrastructure in the EU and Ukraine, the European Council announced yesterday.
Four of the sanctioned individuals are employed by the Russian government or work for Russian state-sponsored hacking groups known as Callisto and Armageddon. Two others are Russian men suspected of working with ransomware groups dubbed Conti and Trickbot. The sanctions against the latter two, according to the Council, are the first that the EU has imposed on non-state cyber criminals.
“For the first time, restrictive measures are being taken against cybercriminal actors that use ransomware campaigns against essential services, such as health and banking,” the Council said.
The Council’s authority to impose cyber sanctions is relatively new and was first used in 2020 (CPR, July 31, 2020). The sanctions freeze the individuals’ EU assets and ban them from traveling to the EU, the Council explained. “Additionally, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed,” it noted.
Four of the newly sanctioned individuals—Ruslan Peretyatko, Andrey Korinets, Mikhail Tsarev, and Maksim Galochkin—already face criminal charges in the U.S. (CPR, Sept. 7, 2023). The other two, Oleksandr Sklianko and Mykola Chernykh, have not been publicly charged in the U.S. but face sanctions in the U.S. and United Kingdom.
“With these new listings, the EU and its member states reaffirm their willingness to step up efforts to provide a stronger and more sustained response to persistent malicious cyber activities targeting the EU, its member states and partners,” the Council said. “This is in line with joint efforts with our international partners, such as the UK and the US, to disrupt and respond to cyber crime.”
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