EU to impose sanctions on GRU hackers from The Insider investigation, Moscow’s HSE dean, and Igor Sechin’s associate, Sistema reports

The European Union will add three GRU officers from Russia’s military unit 29155 to its sanctions lists, Sistema reports after reviewing drafts of the EU’s new sanctions package against Russia. The officers, all of whom specialize in cyber operations, are Vladislav Borovkov (born 1997), Denis Denisenko (born 1997), and Dmitry Goloshubov (born 1998). Borovkov and Denisenko were featured in The Insider’s investigation Hidden Bear: The GRU hackers of Russia’s most notorious kill squad.

The Insider identified several dozen members of the group, including previously convicted carding hackers, recent college graduates, and GRU veterans of poisoning and sabotage operations with no IT experience. The majority of unit 29155’s hacking and information-sabotage operations failed.

According to European officials, Borovkov, Denisenko, and Goloshubov are linked to the cybergroup Cadet Blizzard, which engages in cyber espionage and sabotage. Microsoft reports that Cadet Blizzard began targeting Ukrainian government resources as early as January 2022, the month before Russia launched its open invasion of the country. Investigations by The Insider have shown that military unit 29155 was involved in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury (2018), the explosions of munitions warehouses in Czechia (2014), and numerous other sabotage operations across Europe.

Sanctions are also planned against Andrey Bystritsky, chairman of the Development and Support Council of the Valdai International Discussion Club and dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries at Moscow's Higher School of Economics. Bystritsky is accused of “supporting actions or policies of the Russian government that undermine or threaten democracy, the rule of law, stability, or security in the EU or Ukraine.”

Another person to be added to the sanctions lists is Murtaza Lakhani, founder of the oil trading firm Mercantile & Maritime (M&M) and a British-Canadian dual citizen. According to the EU, the businessman uses his entities to supply Russian energy products to customers, including products from Rosneft. Previously, Bloomberg, citing its sources, named Lakhani as one of the aides to Rosneft head Igor Sechin in evading sanctions.

As Sistema notes, the new sanctions are being prepared under two mechanisms: one aimed at protecting the EU from destabilization by Russia (in effect since 2024), and the other related to the war in Ukraine (in effect since 2014).