Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has called on the European Union to recognise Russian military intelligence (the GRU) as a terrorist organisation. He made the statement on 12 October 2026 in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
According to Budrys, the EU must intensify Russia’s isolation and impose additional sanctions on everyone involved in Russian operations or linked to Russia’s military machine. He specifically pointed to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (the GRU):
“We must also analyse the activities of the GRU, that is, Russian military intelligence, in its operations. They are already acting as a terrorist organisation. That is why the EU must recognise this organisation as terrorist, as well as everyone associated with it.”
The minister stressed that sanctions only work when pressure is increasing. He criticised the recent removal of two Russian oligarchs (Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman) from the EU sanctions list, calling it a sign of weakness to which Moscow responded with further escalation both in Ukraine and in Europe.
Budrys noted that Russia is exporting to European countries the methods it previously tested in Ukraine, and that the only effective response is tighter sanctions, greater pressure, and deeper isolation. He welcomed the addition of around 1,600 more individuals and entities linked to disinformation, the “shadow fleet,” and Russia’s military industry to the sanctions lists, but urged that new restrictive measures be agreed at every meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
