‘Chaos and disorder’: Russian spies named, sanctioned by UK government

Brussels: Russian spies have been named and sanctioned for arson attacks and attempted murders as well as hacking mobile phones, in a dramatic British action backed by tough new measures across Europe.

The UK government revealed the Russian agents who engaged in the attacks over more than a decade, in a rare exposure aimed at highlighting the scale of the threat to the public.

Some of the Russian agents named by the UK government, clockwise from top-left: Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk, Nikolay Aleksandrovich Korchagin, Yevgeniy Mikhaylovich Serebriakov, Yuriy Federovich Denisov, Vladislav Yevgenyevich Borovkov and Artem Valeryvich Ochichenko.

The operations included a “sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity” over many years – some of them by a hacking unit previously named by ASIO for presenting the same threat to Australia.

The British Foreign Office warned of the “chaos and disorder” from the operations and blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the crimes, while imposing sanctions on 18 individuals.

The hacking included targeting Russian émigré Yulia Skripal with malicious malware known as X-Agent in the years before she and her father Sergei – a former Russian military intelligence officer – were almost assassinated.

Russian agents tried to kill the Skripals in March 2018 by smearing the nerve agent Novichok on the family’s front door handle, but the father and daughter recovered from the poison. One person who came into contact with the discarded nerve agent died, while others suffered severe illness.

The Foreign Office did not name the other targets of the Russian hacking, but revealed the identities of the military intelligence officers as well as three units of their agency, the GRU.

The European Union separately announced sanctions against nine individuals and six entities on Tuesday for electronic warfare, hacking and other malicious attacks.

Backing the UK’s announcement, the EU said the GRU had targeted systems across Europe including in Germany and Czechia.

The UK and EU both sanctioned GRU unit 26165, which was also named by ASIO in May this year for malicious cyber activity against Western logistics and technology companies.

A view inside the theatre that was damaged during fighting in Mariupol in April 2022.Credit: AP

The UK said unit 26165 had conducted online reconnaissance to help target missile strikes against the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, including the strike in March 2022 that destroyed a theatre and killed hundreds of civilians.

ASIO said in May the unit was also known as APT28, Fancy Bear, Forest Blizzard and BlueDelta in the hacking world. It said hackers had targeted the defence industry and air traffic management.

The UK actions were revealed late on Friday (early Saturday AEST) and came with a statement from Foreign Secretary David Lammy about the way the UK and its allies were countering the threat from Russia.

“GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilise Europe, undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens,” Lammy said.

“The Kremlin should be in no doubt: we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we won’t tolerate it. That’s why we’re taking decisive action with sanctions against Russian spies.”

In a separate case, five men were convicted earlier this month for their part in an arson attack ordered by Russia against a warehouse in London with supplies meant for Ukraine.

The attack in March 2024 destroyed supplies worth £1 million.

The men received instructions over online service Telegram from the Wagner Group, the Russian military organisation. Some of the men were drug suppliers and low-level criminals.

The moves on Friday highlighted the breadth of the Russian operations in the UK and Europe, going beyond previous warnings that offered less detail.

The UK Foreign Office said Russia had targeted media outlets, telecoms providers, political and democratic institutions and energy infrastructure.

The EU identified an electronic warfare unit based in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory neighbouring Poland and Lithuania, that it blamed for jamming satellite navigation such as the global positioning system (GPS).

It also listed GRU officer Yevgeny Shevchenko and his company, Tigerweb, for spreading Russian propaganda, as well social media influencer Nathalie Yamb for doing the same.

In examples of Russian misinformation, the EU said former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin – killed in an aircraft crash after he turned on the president – had set up fake groups such as the BRICS Journalists Association, the Foundation to Battle Injustice and the Centre for Geopolitical Expertise.

The journalist association spread false accusations against French soldiers blaming them for kidnapping children in Niger, the EU said.

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