Boris Johnson (left) and Mark Sedville
The UK has taken a number of non-public measures against Russia after the Salisbury incident, in addition to the expulsion of diplomats and the imposition of sanctions. Mark Sedville, a former national security adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said in an interview with The Times.
He clarified that these measures concerned, in particular, the illegal withdrawal of money from Russia. In addition, there are other restrictions that Sedville did not disclose.
Johnson's ex-adviser also answered the question why London has not yet used its potential to carry out cyberattacks against Moscow. “The fact that you don’t see this does not mean that we don’t do it,” he said, adding that no “illegal operations” were carried out.
Earlier, on October 22, Great Britain and the European Union imposed sanctions against the units and employees of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) for hacker attacks on the Bundestag in 2015. Under the new restrictions were the 85th main special operations center of the GRU, head of the department Igor Kostyukov and an employee suspected of carrying out the attack itself, Dmitry Badin. The sanctions consist of an entry ban and an asset freeze.
In March 2018, a former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a street in the British city of Salisbury. London said they had been poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent. The British side considers the Russian leadership to be involved in the incident.
