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New sanctions against Russia for German cyber attack

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said that the UK is enforcing new sanctions against Russia for cyber attack on German Parliament in 2015.

The government will enforce asset freezes and travel bans against two Russian GRU officers and the GRU’s military intelligence unit 26165 – codenamed APT28 and Fancy Bear – which were responsible for the 2015 cyber attacks on Germany’s Parliament.

The sanctions have been made under the EU’s regime and form part of the UK’s ongoing partnership with its allies to send a message to Russia that there will be consequences for its malicious cyber activity. The Foreign Office has said that the sanctions come into force immediately.

The cyber attacks in question on Germany’s Parliament in 2015 targeted information systems, stole significant amounts of data and affected email accounts belonging to German MPs and the Vice Chancellor.

The GRU is the main military intelligence wing of the Russian Armed Forces and its cyber units have been responsible for a number of cyber attacks in recent years including - as the UK and US revealed this week - unit 74455 committed an attack on the 2018 Winter and targeted the postponed 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Raab said: “The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Germany and our European partners to hold Russia to account for cyber attacks designed to undermine Western democracies. This criminal behaviour brings the Russian Government into further disrepute.”

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