Moscow issues 'retaliatory' expanded list banning German officials from Russia

In response to the EU sanctions, Moscow on December 28 expanded the list of banned german officials on a parity basis in corresponding to the retaliatory list of EU officials. In an official statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing that Russia decided to retaliate to the European Union’s actions Russia and added more names to the retaliatory list of representatives of the EU member countries and institutions who are prohibited from entering the territory of Russia. 

The diplomat added that the Russian list was elongated to match the existing EU list, according to TASS. Further, Zakharova  condemned the EU’s sanctions against Russia and Russian citizens calling the measure a “far-fetched and absurd pretext.” EU had imposed sanctions on Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency and Russian citizens over a cyberattack against the German parliament that was carried out in 2015. In a statement, EU headquarters announced that it had imposed a ban on Igor Kostyukov, head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and Dmitry Badin, a military intelligence officer. 

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[European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks during a media conference after a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Luxembourg. Credit: AP]

Meanwhile, as the EU’s sanctions against high-ranking Russian officials came into effect, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, that the EU's actions were ‘unfriendly and bitter’. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had warned of similar retaliatory actions against the EU for eroding the diplomatic ties despite Russia’s international and legal obligations. EU accused Russia of launching a cyberattack on the Bundestag after sensitive data of several EU MPS was stolen in a mysterious attack and the email accounts of prominent EU politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel was compromised. 

Military unit 26165's involvement 

“This cyber-attack targeted the parliament’s information system and affected its operation for several days,” AP quoted EU headquarters as saying. “Part of intelligence agency targeted is known as military unit 26165, or more commonly by monikers like APT28, Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm, and Strontium,” it further informed. The EU imposed sanctions citing Moscow’s involvement, additionally accusing the agency of trying to hack into the Wi-Fi network of the Netherlands ’ Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2018. However, in a recent retaliatory measure, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zakharova said that the Russian Foreign Ministry imposed like-wise sanctions and dispatched a message to the EU’s mission in Russia with a notification. 

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(Image Credit: AP)