The EU has sanctioned nine people over Russia’s espionage campaign News of the Russian-Ukrainian war

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Russia’s military, smugglers and private companies, condemning what it says is a decades-long espionage campaign against the bloc.

The European Council said in a statement on Monday that the suspects “support Russia’s attempts to destabilize the EU, its members and other countries”. These espionage and threats have taken place in at least nine countries.

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The names of individuals and organizations are not mentioned in the statement.

It said France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland, “among others”, have been targeted.

Germany’s Foreign Office said it had summoned the Russian ambassador over the “unacceptable” strikes and said they would deal with them quickly.

“This morning … we summoned the Russian ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding cyber attacks,” a ministry spokesman told reporters.

The calls come as Ukraine’s pro-European allies plan to hold meetings in Paris on Monday to defend Ukraine’s aviation security details.

Despite increasing tensions on the battlefield in recent months, Ukraine has been left exposed as Russia escalated its offensive on Kyiv and surrounding areas over the past few weeks, killing dozens of people.

Ukraine is running low on its arsenal and has been unable to launch ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound, over the past month.

It has appealed to its allies for more resources and has also pressed Europe to cooperate on its defense strategy, including at a NATO summit last week in Ankara, Turkey.

Coalition of the Willing met to help Ukraine

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to join 25 heads of state at the “Coalition of the Willing” meeting in Paris to offer security guarantees to support the country after months of stalled talks with the US and Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron will also attend the meeting.

Diplomats said leaders from nine countries, including Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, will meet with about a dozen defense companies, including the SAMP-T manufacturer Eurosam, Leonardo, Thales and Saab, ahead of a meeting aimed at developing plans for air defense in Ukraine.

An announcement to launch the Freyja project, Ukraine’s attempt to develop a European-backed, low-cost alternative to the US Patriot system, is on the agenda.

Zelenskyy urged his allies to increase pressure on Russia after the attack in Odesa on Monday.

“Today, the Russian people have ‘conquered’ the common people’s land again,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

“The pressure on Russia must work. New sanctions against the aggressor. A new aid package for Ukraine, new projects like our European anti-ballistic project FREYJA- everything must work,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the Paris conference as a “coalition of warmongers” who “do not want peace”.

“These are countries that are doing things against Russia, so we will be watching closely,” Peskov said.