A notorious Russian military unit has carried out cyber-attacks on Ukrainian allies around the world designed to disrupt aid efforts, according to a joint defence briefing by Western intelligence agencies.
They said attacks both before and after the full-scale invasion in February 2022 were carried out by the same group believed to be behind the poisonings of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Salisbury in 2018.
Unit 29155, which has been linked to high-profile espionage and sabotage campaigns in recent years, expanded into cyber operations in 2020, agencies in the UK, US and several other countries said in a joint statement.
The intervention comes as European governments seek to counter what they say is increased Russian espionage in the wake of the Ukraine war.
A spike in cyber-attacks on Ukraine ahead of the February 2022 invasion had previously been widely reported.
But an expert told the BBC the joint warning issued this this week suggested a broader range of activity than previously disclosed took place against several European countries.
“The focus at the time…
