UK sanctions entire Russian military intelligence agency

By Mehmet Solmaz

BIRMINGHAM, England (AA) — Britain on Thursday announced broad sanctions against Russia’s military intelligence service after a public inquiry concluded that President Vladimir Putin personally ordered the 2018 operation in Salisbury that led to the death of a British woman and the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The measures unveiled after the publication of the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry’s final report designate Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) in its entirety. The sanctions also target 11 individuals accused of involvement in Russian state-backed “hostile activity,” including eight cyber officers linked to hacking efforts aimed at the Skripals.

The investigation determined that GRU operatives used the military-grade nerve agent Novichok to poison Yulia Skripal, a former Russian military officer who allegedly worked for British intelligence, in a cyberoperation before using the same substance in a physical attack on her and her father in Salisbury.

Sturgess, who was exposed to residue from the nerve agent months later, died after coming into contact with the discarded perfume bottle used to transport it.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the findings underscored the Kremlin’s disregard for human life.

“The Salisbury poisonings shocked the nation, and today’s findings are a grave reminder of the Kremlin’s disregard for innocent lives,” Starmer said. “Dawn’s needless death was a tragedy and will forever be a reminder of Russia’s reckless aggression.”

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the conclusions showed that Putin and the GRU remain an active threat to Britain.

“We will not tolerate this brazen and despicable aggression on British soil,” Cooper said. She confirmed that Russia’s ambassador had been summoned to the Foreign Office to answer for what she called Moscow’s ongoing “hybrid activity” targeting the UK and its allies.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Sturgess “was an innocent victim of a reckless and callous act,” adding that the use of Novichok in Salisbury demonstrated Russia’s “complete disregard” for international law.

In addition to sanctioning the GRU itself, the UK imposed penalties on three officers accused of orchestrating further operations in Ukraine and across Europe, including what the government described as a planned terror attack on Ukrainian supermarkets.

British officials say the GRU continues to conduct hybrid operations—including cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, sabotage attempts, and recruitment of criminal proxies—that fall short of open conflict but pose serious security risks.

The Foreign Office said it demanded that Moscow cease its hostile activities and respond to the inquiry’s findings, which confirmed that Russia’s deployment of a banned nerve agent on UK soil caused the death of a British national.

The government said it will continue to coordinate with NATO partners to counter Russian influence and strengthen collective security.