On 16 December, the Council imposed restrictive measures on 16 individuals and three entities linked to Russia’s destabilising actions abroad. These measures respond to Russia’s malicious activities and disregard for international law. The framework for these sanctions was established on 8 October 2024, targeting those undermining the fundamental values of the EU and its member states.
The sanctions include GRU Unit 29155, a covert group responsible for assassinations and destabilisation efforts in Europe. Additionally, the Groupe Panafricain pour le Commerce et l’Investissement, a disinformation network operating in the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso, and its founder, Harouna Douamba, have also been listed. The Council also sanctioned African Initiative, a news agency spreading Russian propaganda in Africa, along with its editor-in-chief, a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, Artem Kureev, and a GRU official who has taken over Wagner Group operations in Africa after Yevgeny Prigozhin‘s death.
The Council has targeted the “Doppelganger” campaign, a Russian-led disinformation initiative aimed at supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine and affecting EU member states, the U.S., and Ukraine.
On 16 December, sanctions were imposed on key figures, including Sofia Zakharova, head of the Russian President’s Office for Information and Communication Technologies, and Nikolai Tupikin, founder of GK Struktura. Other sanctioned individuals include Vladimir Sergiyenko, a former assistant to German Bundestag member Eugen Schmidt, and Russian entrepreneur Visa Mizaev, who were involved in espionage activities against Germany.
Additionally, Alesya Miloradovich, a Russian government employee, and Anatolii Prizenko, a Moldovan businessman who coordinated citizen dispatches to France in October 2023, were sanctioned.
These individuals will face asset freezes, and EU citizens and companies are prohibited from providing them with funds. They will also be subject to travel bans. The European Council, in its conclusions from 27 June 2024, condemned rising hybrid activities targeting the EU and its partners.
