By Julia Payne
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU envoys will discuss on Wednesday the first potential sanctions targeting Russian hybrid threats such as undermining elections, cyber attacks and economic sabotage, EU diplomats said.
A list of 16 individuals and 3 entities could be added to a new sanctions framework agreed in October in response to a rise in such attacks across the 27-member bloc since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said last week that up to 100 incidents in Europe this year could be “attributed to Russian hybrid attacks, espionage, influence operations”.
“We need to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated,” Lipavsky said.
Most of the sanctions targets proposed by the EU Commission are Russian. The listing also identifies three people from Moldova, Ivory Coast and Georgia and one entity based in Togo.
NATO said in May attacks attributed to Russia had increased across Europe, mainly impacting the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
The EU is struggling to contain Russian influence. In recent weeks, Georgia’s Russia-leaning ruling party said it would stop EU accession talks, fuelling widespread protests. Meanwhile, Romania’s top court annulled its presidential election last week after accusations of Russian meddling.
(Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Ros Russell)
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