Germany requests that EU impose sanctions against Russia for cyberattack
The German government in early June proposed to the EU member states to jointly impose sanctions against Russia for a large-scale cyberattack on the German Bundestag five years ago, but a decision on this issue has not been taken yet, reported DPA news agency, citing a copy of the government's official response to the so-called minor request of the Left Party faction in the German parliament.
The German government believes that the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) was behind the cyberattack on the Bundestag. On May 5, the Federal Prosecutor's Office of Germany issued an arrest warrant for Russian citizen Dmitry Badin, who "as a member of the hackers group ART28 allegedly led a cyberattack on the German Bundestag in April-May 2015."
If the EU countries accept the proposal of Germany, it will be the first case when the EU imposes sanctions for cyberattacks - legislation passed in 2017. The official response to the request of the Left Party faction states that "the federal government has justified the proposal to impose sanctions within the EU based on the materials received both from intelligence services and from public sources."