UK Reveals Names Of 18 Putin Spies
- 18.07.2025, 18:48
London has imposed sanctions against three units and 18 GRU officers.
London has imposed sanctions against 18 employees of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Main Directorate and three of its units found to have acted in or against Britain and other Western countries. The list released includes people who hacked into the phone of the daughter of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was then poisoned along with her by a novice, who aimed missiles at a theater in Mariupol where hundreds of women and children were hiding in 2022, and who organized arson attacks in Britain itself.
Russian military intelligence agency GRU is involved in hybrid warfare through which Vladimir Putin is trying to wreak havoc in Europe, the Foreign Office said on Friday. British efforts to expose the covert operations of Putin's spies have been backed by the US FBI and the intelligence services of many NATO countries, notes The Telegraph.
The military unit 26165 (or the 85th Main Center for Special Service, a unit of the General Staff Main Directorate) is among those hit by the sanctions. It is also known as a hacker group operating under the names APT 28 and Fancy Bear. Its officers Ivan Ermakov and Alexei Lukashev are blacklisted. They hacked Yulia Skripal's phone five years before she and her father were poisoned in Salisbury by other GRU agents in 2018. Yermakov and Lukashev are also wanted by the FBI for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In addition, v/ч 26165 has been featured in investigations into interference in electoral and political processes in France and Germany. And in 2022, it conducted online reconnaissance, helping to organize strikes on the Drama Theater during the siege of Mariupol. Although the people hiding in it wrote in large letters on the asphalt next to the theater "CHILDREN", it was destroyed by Russian missiles, which killed several hundred people.
The sanctions also hit v/ч 74455 and 29155. British authorities hold Russian spies responsible for a string of cyberattacks and sabotage operations aimed at thwarting military aid to Ukraine from Western allies. British and European intelligence agencies have identified multiple instances of targeted attacks on ports, transportation hubs, border control points and state infrastructure, The Telegraph noted.
In one of them, Russian hackers tapped into surveillance cameras at border crossings, military facilities and on roads in Ukraine and neighboring countries as part of a large-scale campaign aimed at thwarting organizations involved in supplying Ukraine.
Russian state leaders recruited members of military unit 29155 to orchestrate assassinations, including the Skripals. In the past decade, it has been blamed for bombings of arms depots in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, including where products destined for Ukraine were stored.
The unit also coordinated a campaign to recruit young Afghans to organize Taliban attacks against U.S.-led Western coalition forces before the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2022.
The Associated Press agency recently released a study identifying more than 70 incidents since the start of the war in Ukraine in which Western law enforcement officials have made clear links to Russia, pro-Russian groups or Belarus. Acts of hybrid warfare include espionage, assassination preparations, arson, sabotage and sabotage, cyberattacks, vandalism, the use of migrants to destabilize the public situation, and propaganda activities.
These include the arson in east London of a warehouse linked to a Ukrainian company that supplied Starlink satellite internet terminals to the homeland, among others. It was organized by a Briton who was recruited by a Russian intelligence officer. "You are our dagger in Europe, and we will sharpen you carefully. And then we will start using you in serious battles," the intelligence officer wrote.
A court in London found five people guilty of arson.
"GRU spies are leading a campaign to destabilize Europe, undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens. The Kremlin should have no doubt: we can see what they are trying to do in secret and we will not tolerate it," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy emphasized.