EU imposes sanctions on Russians over human rights and cybercrime

The European Union on Monday broadened sanctions against Russia to include individuals and entities ​responsible for cybercrime and human rights ‌violations, naming popular social media app VKontakte among them.

VKontakte and its daughter company Communication Platform LLC were ​added to the list for their role ​in developing and managing the MaxApp for ⁠Russian smartphones, under the supervision of the ​FSB security agency.

The app is pre-installed on all ​mobile devices sold in Russia.

EU countries said MaxApp was used for repression of critics of Russia's war against ​Ukraine and of people who posted other ​content banned by authorities.

Restrictive measures were also imposed on ‌Citadel, ⁠VAS Experts and Norsi-Trans - companies that manufacture, develop, and sell hardware and software related to a surveillance system that monitors phone calls, emails, ​text messages, ​and social ⁠networks.

The EU said this network targets journalists, opposition figures, minority groups, ​and ordinary citizens.

The EU also imposed sanctions ​on ⁠officers from Russia's military intelligence service GRU, cybercriminals and companies that it said were active ⁠in ​Russia's efforts to destabilise Europe.

It ​also accused the FSB of controlling "a variety of cyber threat ​groups".

-Reuters