The Council of the European Union on 22 September 2026 extended individual restrictive measures targeting people and entities that Brussels holds responsible for undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The sanctions will remain in force until 22 September 2029 — the first time they have been prolonged for 36 months rather than...
Paris tightens protection of critical infrastructure and defense industry sites over Russian hybrid warfare threat
The threat of Russian hybrid warfare against Europe is “real and documented” by the majority of European intelligence services, including France’s, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on BFMTV. Downplaying that threat would be irresponsible, he said. Sabotage and drone incidents across Europe are becoming systematic. Nuñez cited an attempted...
The Graham Act and U.S. sanctions that could hit Europe
On September 16, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 262 to 159, a bipartisan measure officially titled the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 (H.R. 5334 / S. 5025). A month earlier, on August 7, 2026, the Senate approved the bill...
Russia launches new disinformation campaign ahead of U.S. midterm elections
The Russian Federation has launched a new covert online disinformation campaign aimed at undermining Americans’ confidence in the November 2026 congressional midterm elections. The New York Times reported this, citing classified U.S. intelligence assessments and officials familiar with the materials. According to the newspaper’s sources, classified intelligence assessments from recent...
Fico accuses the West of pushing NATO toward war with Russia
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in a video address posted on social media on Saturday that the West has for more than four years been “needlessly pouring oil on the fire” in Ukraine. In his view, the strategy of “destroying Russia” through the war has failed, and some Western...
Germany records rise in Russian disinformation targeting Chancellor Merz
Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the country’s domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency, has recorded a marked increase in recent months in Russian disinformation directed at Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The Handelsblatt newspaper reported this on 16 September, citing a statement from the agency. According to the...
What France’s ultimatum over Usmanov means for EU policy
In mid-September 2026, the European Union came close to a serious breakdown in one of its main instruments of pressure on Russia. Personal sanctions against roughly 2,500–3,000 Russian individuals and companies, imposed after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, were due to be renewed on 15 September. Instead,...
Raiffeisen shares plunge more than 8% after sanctions-evasion allegations
Shares of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) fell more than 8% in Thursday trading in Vienna on September 17. At one point the drop reached nearly 9%. By midday the stock was trading around €59.6–€59.8. The sell-off followed a report published by U.S. investment fund Grizzly Research. The fund said...
France’s Foreign Ministry refuses to name partners seeking to lift sanctions on Usmanov
The French Foreign Ministry has declined to name the international partners pressing for Alisher Usmanov’s removal from the EU sanctions list and has not explained the “national security considerations” it cited earlier. Paris has confirmed that it supports taking the Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov off the European Union’s sanctions list,...
The EU’s private combat-training market has become a channel for Russia
Despite having a developed combat school of its own, Russia and affiliated structures have already used foreign training sites in Europe to prepare people for coercive and combat tasks. One documented case came in 2024, when Moldovan law-enforcement agencies uncovered the recruitment and training of citizens at facilities in Serbia...