The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on 18 Russian military intelligence operatives for allegedly orchestrating cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and targeting individuals within the country, including a key figure linked to the 2018 Salisbury poisonings. Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the measures on Monday, underscoring a strengthened approach to countering hybrid threats from Moscow.
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Targeting the Shadows: Cyberattacks on UK Institutions and Citizens
The sanctioned individuals are reportedly linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence unit 26165, associated with the notorious hacking group Fancy Bear. This unit is accused of targeting British media, telecom operators, democratic institutions, and the country’s energy infrastructure in a series of coordinated cyberattacks over recent years.
Two of the 18 spies were specifically named for deploying X-Agent spyware on a device belonging to Yulia Skripal in 2013, five years before she and her father, former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury. Though the Skripals survived, Dawn Sturgess, a British woman, died after exposure to the poison, which her partner unknowingly found in a discarded perfume bottle.
Broader Network of Threats: Ukraine War and Disinformation Campaigns
Beyond UK borders, the same GRU agents have been implicated in cyber-operations supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Foreign Office confirmed that some of these individuals were involved in planning or facilitating the bombing of the Mariupol theatre, where hundreds of civilians, including children, lost their lives.
Additionally, the UK government has sanctioned an organisation known as the African Initiative, citing its role in spreading health-related disinformation across West Africa in favour of Russian interests.
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Lammy declared the sanctions a message of “zero tolerance” for Russian interference. “The Kremlin should be in no doubt. We see what they are trying to do in the shadows, and we won’t tolerate it,” he stated.
The UK’s broader sanctions regime has already cost Russia an estimated ₹37.56 lakh crore($450 billion ) in war funds between February 2022 and June 2025, the Foreign Office said
The new sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans, and reflect a strategic shift from targeting financial and political entities to direct action against intelligence operatives.