France summons Russian ambassador over alleged cyber sabotage campaign

The French government is summoning the Russian ambassador in Paris over an alleged widespread cyber espionage and sabotage campaign directed by Russia's Federal Security Service. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced the diplomatic protest on Monday, alongside targeted sanctions, establishing a direct link between digital aggression and traditional statecraft.

Officials state the campaign targeted companies, government ministries, and service operators across a dozen European nations. The objectives reportedly included both the capture of sensitive information and the disruption of physical infrastructure, including railway networks. France has specifically identified the FSB's 16th Centre, known as Unit 61240, as the architect of persistent operations against its government entities and the national defence sector.

The diplomatic rebuke is accompanied by coordinated economic measures. France is sanctioning nine Russian individuals and four entities, a move mirrored precisely by the European Union on Monday in an effort to penalise the actors composing Russia's malicious cyber ecosystem. The United Kingdom has simultaneously announced sanctions against 24 individuals and entities connected to cyber and hybrid operations, as allied officials highlighted incidents such as a recent attempted attack on Poland's energy grid.

These parallel announcements unfold as Paris hosts a Coalition of the Willing summit, bringing together more than twenty European leaders to discuss sustained support for Kyiv and strategic pressure on Moscow. Presenting the cyber sanctions against this backdrop illustrates how digital incursions are increasingly treated as inseparable from broader military and geopolitical manoeuvres.

The coordinated action from European capitals points to a fundamental re-evaluation of international conflict paradigms. By summoning an envoy and levying sanctions over network intrusions, allied governments are acknowledging the profound entanglement of cyber warfare with physical security. Digital sabotage is no longer managed quietly as a shadow conflict, but confronted openly as a primary violation of sovereignty.