BRITAIN joined the European Union in imposing sanctions yesterday on Russian military intelligence officers, hackers and private companies over what it alleged was a years-long cyberespionage campaign to undermine the bloc.

The sanctions targeted nine people and four entities accused of links to an online spying network that the EU said had targeted governments and carried out sabotage operations against critical infrastructure such as heating and power stations since 2010.

The European Council said in a statement that those targeted “contribute to Russia’s efforts to destabilise the EU, its member states and international partners.”

The names of the individuals and entities were not identified in the statement, which said France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland, “among others,” had been targeted.

Germany summoned Russia’s ambassador and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that his government would do the same in the coming days.

The EU focused its measures on the 16th centre of Russia’s Federal Security Service, accusing it “controlling a variety of cyberthreat groups” and having “conducted a wide range of malicious cyberactivities with growing severity.”

British officials accused Russian intelligence agencies of having “tasked cybercriminals to collect intelligence to support Russia’s military and foreign policy objectives, threatening security across Europe.”