politics
European Union Adds VKontakte to Russia Sanctions Over Surveillance App
The European Union on July 13 expanded sanctions against Russia to cover entities tied to cybercrime and human rights violations. VKontakte and two other firms were named for roles in monitoring tools used on Russian devices.
Jul 14, 2:09 AM·1m read1 source
RapplerAudio version
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The European Union expanded sanctions against Russia on July 13 to include individuals and entities involved in cybercrime and human rights violations. VKontakte and its subsidiary Communication Platform LLC were added to the sanctions list for developing and managing MaxApp, a tool pre-installed on all mobile devices sold in Russia under supervision of the FSB security agency.
Rappler reported that 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.
The sanctions also covered Citadel, VAS Experts, and Norsi-Trans for manufacturing, developing, and selling hardware and software for a surveillance system that monitors phone calls, emails, text messages, and social networks. The European Union said the system targets journalists, opposition figures, minority groups, and ordinary citizens.
Additional sanctions were imposed on officers from Russia’s military intelligence service GRU, cybercriminals, and companies active in efforts to destabilise Europe.
The European Union accused the FSB of controlling a variety of cyber threat groups.
