France Accuses Russia's GRU of Cyber Espionage

France has accused Russia's GRU military intelligence agency of orchestrating cyber attacks on its ministries, defense firms, and think tanks since 2021. This marks the first occasion Paris has directly blamed the Russian state for such activities, citing its intelligence sources.

France has formally accused Russia's GRU military intelligence agency of conducting a series of cyber attacks targeting its ministries, defense firms, and think tanks. The French foreign ministry announced that these actions were aimed at destabilizing the country.

The ministry's statement disclosed that since 2021, this approach has compromised a dozen French entities. The accusations were directed at GRU unit APT28, based in Rostov-on-Don.

Although Western powers have previously pointed fingers at the GRU, this is the first time Paris has publicly attributed the blame to the Russian state, based on its own intelligence findings.

(With inputs from agencies.)