Russia has expanded sanctions against Germany
In response to the destructive actions on the part of the EU, Moscow has made a decision to expand the reciprocal list of German citizens who are prohibited from entering the territory of the Russian Federation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
New sanctions are being introduced in response to EU sanctions against Russians accused of organizing a cyber attack on the German parliament in 2015. The Foreign Ministry noted that these restrictions were introduced “in accordance with the diplomatic principle of reciprocity.”
"The top officials of the German security and intelligence agencies, which are part of the system of the German Ministry of Defense, have been elected as the new persons involved in the Russian stop-list," the diplomatic department clarified, but did not provide a list of names. They added that Russia reserves the right to further sanctions against German officials "if the FRG authorities continue the confrontational line."
In May and October, the European Union imposed sanctions on a total of three Russian citizens, one of whom is Igor Kostyukov, head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff (GU GSh, former GRU). He has been on the sanctions lists of Brussels since 2018. Citizens of the Russian Federation were accused of involvement in a cyberattack on the Bundestag in 2015, according to the official journal of the European Union. The British Foreign Office also announced the imposition of sanctions on two "GRU officers", but did not reveal their names.