The European Union imposed sanctions on the head of Russia’s military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov, and another Russian on Thursday, accusing them of stealing Angela Merkel’s emails in a 2015 hacking attack on the German parliament.
Russia in May denied the accusations as a “hackneyed story” and said the EU lacked evidence.
The sanctions on the head of the GRU military intelligence agency follow similar asset freezes and travel bans imposed last week on officials close to President Vladimir Putin in response to the alleged poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
The new measures were disclosed the EU’s Official Journal. In addition to Kostyukov, they target Dmitry Badin, accused of being the hacker who orchestrated the attack, as well as the so-called 85th Main Centre, or Centre 85, the GRU unit used to carry it out, also known as the GRU Special Services division.
“A significant amount of data was stolen and email accounts of several MPs as well as of Chancellor Angela Merkel were affected,” the Official Journal said of the attack, which targeted Merkel’s constituency office.
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