UK sanctions Russian cyber spies accused of facilitating murders The Record from Recorded Future News

pppLeadershipppCybercrimeppNationstateppElectionsppTechnologyppCyber DailyppClick Here Podcastpp Free Newsletterpp Editors Note Story updated 915 am Eastern US time with additional details and names of sanctioned individuals pp The British government sanctioned 18 Russian military intelligence officers on Friday alleging their units were responsible for cyber reconnaissance operations including those leading to hundreds of murders through the targeting of civilians in Ukraine pp Three units of the GRU have been sanctioned alongside officers whom the British authorities said were responsible for hacking the personal device of Yulia Skripal the daughter of GRU defector Sergei Skripal five years before Russias failed attempt to murder the pair in Salisbury using the Novichok nerve agent pp David Lammy Britains foreign secretary in a statement said the sanctions are a message to Russia The Kremlin should be in no doubt we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we wont tolerate it Thats why were taking decisive action with sanctions against Russian spies pp GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilise Europe undermine Ukraines sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens Putins hybrid threats and aggression will never break our resolve The UK and our Allies support for Ukraine and Europes security is ironclad added Lammy pp The GRU units sanctioned by the British government include Unit 26165 which was accused of having conducted online reconnaissance to help target missile strikes against Mariupol including the strike that destroyed the Mariupol Theatre where hundreds of civilians including children were murdered pp The Council of the European Union and the North Atlantic Council effectively the political representative bodies of the EU and NATO issued statements of solidarity in support of the United Kingdom and condemning the Russian cyber operations pp Of the 18 members of the GRU more than a dozen have previously been publicly identified and indicted by the US Department of Justice for their involvement with Unit 29155 and Unit 26165 Some of the names of the GRU officers appear to have not previously been publicly linked to Russian intelligence pp The British government said Russia has targeted media outlets telecoms providers political and democratic institutions and energy infrastructure across the United Kingdom and that the country and its international allies are watching Russia and are countering their attacks both publicly and behind the scenes pp The GRU routinely uses cyber and information operations to sow chaos division and disorder in Ukraine and across the world with devastating realworld consequences the British government said on Friday pp Three units known to be involved in the GRUs malicious cyber operations were included in the sanctions package pp It comes as the UKs National Cyber Security Centre a part of the signals and cyber intelligence agency GCHQ also reveals that GRU Unit 26165 was responsible for deploying sophisticated malware it calls AUTHENTIC ANTICS as part of its operations pp A previous analysis of the malware by NCSC before the technical attribution to Unit 26165  said it was specifically designed to enable persistent endpoint access to Microsoft cloud accounts by blending in with legitimate activity that works by sending emails from the victims account to an actorcontrolled email address without the emails showing in the sent folder pp The malware demonstrates the persistence and sophistication of the cyber threat posed by Russias GRU said the NCSCs director of operations Paul Chichester who added that the agencys investigations of GRU activities over many years show that network defenders should not take this threat for granted and that monitoring and protective action is essential for defending systems pp The sanctioned GRU personnel are pp Andrey Eduardovich Baranov Unit 26165 Vladislav Yevgenyevich Borovkov Unit 29155 Yuriy Federovich Denisov Unit 29155 Nikolay Aleksandrovich Korchagin Unit 29155 Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev Unit 74455 Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev Unit 26165 Artem Andreyevich Malyshev Unit 26165 Dmitriy Aleksandrovich Mikhaylov unit not specified Aleksey Sergeyevich Morenets Unit 26165 Sergey Aleksandrovich Morgachev Unit 26165 Viktor Borisovich Netyksho Unit 26165 Artem Valeryvich Ochichenko Unit 74455 Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk Unit 74455 Yevgeniy Mikhaylovich Serebriakov Unit 74455 Vitaly Aleksandrovich Shevchenko Unit 29155 Yuriy Leonidovich Shikolenko unit not specified Sergey Sergeyevich Vasyuk Unit 26165 Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov Unit 26165 pp The majority of the individuals already feature either in US Department of Justice indictments against the GRU or are named on the FBIs Most Wanted list pp Three of the men do not seem to have previously been named in Englishlanguage reports Andrey Eduardovich Baranov Yuriy Leonidovich Shikolenko and Sergey Sergeyevich Vasyuk However Shikolenko was identified last year by the German magazine Stern as a senior officer in Unit 26165 pp The British government said on Friday that in addition to the GRU Units and officers it was also sanctioning three leaders of African Initiative which was described as a social media content mill established and funded by Russia and employing Russian intelligence officers to conduct information operations in West Africa This includes reckless attempts to undermine lifesaving global health initiatives in the region by pushing baseless conspiracy theories to further the Kremlins political agenda pp ppAlexander Martinppis the UK Editor for Recorded Future News He was previously a technology reporter for Sky News and is also a fellow at the European Cyber Conflict Research InitiativeppPrivacyppAboutppContact Uspp Copyright 2025 The Record from Recorded Future Newsp