France set to summon Russian ambassador to Paris over alleged cyberattack campaign

PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) – France will summon the Russian ambassador to Paris in the coming days over an alleged cyberhacking campaign that Russia has carried out against European countries including France, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday.

He added France would also place sanctions on some Russian individuals and entities. 

“Today, we will publicly condemn a widespread cyber campaign conducted by Russia that aimed to carry out sabotage and spying conducted against a dozen countries,” Barrot told BFM TV.

“We will summon the Russian ambassador to France in the coming days,” he said, adding that France would sanction nine Russian individuals and four Russian entities regarding this campaign of cyberattacks that Barrot said Russia’s Federal Security Service had orchestrated.

The European Union is trying to seal a 21st package of sanctions against Moscow in response to Russia’s war with Ukraine and may on Monday decide to add further names to their sanctions list, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said.

The French government has previously accused Moscow of conducting cyberattacks against the country.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and John Irish; editing by Barbara Lewis)