On Tuesday 15 July, the EU Council imposed sanctions on those responsible for acts of disinformation, pro-Russian propaganda and interference, including against Member States.
The federal public company Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS), which operates Russia’s terrestrial broadcasting infrastructure, has been sanctioned, as have its managing director, Andrey Yuryevich Romanchenko, and a director, Vladimir Naidenov.
The same applies to the 841st Separate Electronic Warfare Center “at the core of one of the strongest electronic warfare groups in Russia”, its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Kulikov, and Lieutenant General Yuri Lastochkin, head of the Russian Federation’s electronic warfare forces.
The propagandist on the online television channel MD24, Dmitri Buimistru, the Australian pro-Russian activist Simeon Boikov, known by the pseudonym ‘Aussie Cossack’, Veaceslav Valico, who took part in the Russian destabilisation operation concerning the Stars of David painted in Paris, and Aleksey Shavrov, a GRU officer involved in Russian influence operations aimed at destabilising the Union and its Member States, are all subject to measures.
The Crimean-based internet company Tigerweb, which runs the ‘Portal Kombat’ information manipulation project, has been sanctioned, as has its founder, Yevgeny Shevchenko.
Lastly, measures have been taken against the BRICS Journalists Association (BJA) “used as a vehicle to disseminate pro-Russian narratives and disinformation”, the Centre for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) “accused of orchestrating disinformation campaigns” and the Foundation to Battle Injustice (R-FBI), which “has been involved in numerous information operations targeting France and Ukraine”.
See the legal act: https://aeur.eu/f/hwp (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)