A number of Russian spies have been sanctioned for conducting a "sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity" including in the UK, the Foreign Office has said. Three military intelligence units from Russia's GRU espionage agency and 18 officers have had sanctions placed on them for "spreading chaos and disorder on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's orders".

The UK government said on Friday it was placing sanctions on three units of the Russian military intelligence agency (GRU) and 18 military intelligence officers, who it said were “responsible for conducting a sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity over many years,

The British Foreign Office also linked Russia's intelligence agency to a cyber sabotage campaign across Europe and the US, targeting institutions, elections and public health programmes. View on euron